Tuesday, November 10, 2009
Notts County Finances
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Guardian/Matt Scott
Notts County on brink of winding-up proceedings• Club's parent company owes six-figure tax debt• High court bankruptcy division to hear case next week
Notts County's parent company will be wound up next week unless a six-figure tax debt is paid. The League Two club are the subject of an order scheduled to be heard at the bankruptcy division of the high court on 18 November. Despite the notice being served on 25 September on the club's UK parent company, Blenheim 1862, the debt has still not been settled.
There remain four days in which to make a settlement to prevent the case going before the courts. Notts County yesterday refused to comment.
"A Petition to wind up the above-named Company of Meadow Lane Stadium, Meadow Lane, Nottingham NG2 3HJ, presented on 25 September 2009 by the Commissioners for HM Revenue and Customs, claiming to be creditors of the Company, will be heard at the Royal Courts of Justice, 18 November 2009," read a statement published on 5 November 2009 in the insolvency-notices journal of record, the London Gazette.
The development is said to have come as a shock to those involved in the transaction to hand over the club in June to Qadbak, the British Virgin Islands-registered company. As part of that deal the supporters' trust wrote off almost £400,000 in shares and loans it held in Blenheim 1862. Qadbak owns County via another BVI vehicle, Munto Finance, which in turn holds the shares in Blenheim 1862.
It is understood that at the time of the transaction there was an assurance that the tax debts, believed to be approaching £400,000 and which threatened the existence of the club, would be quickly paid. A source close to the club claims sufficient funds are being held in an escrow account ready for release to HM Revenue and Customs once the matter has been heard by the courts.
The source added that the debts relate to PAYE and VAT submissions dating back more than two years. But it was the assurance of swift payment, along with claims of vast funds available to the club under Qadbak, that led to the trust handing over the shares to the BVI companies for free.
This is not the first evidence of Notts County being unable to deliver on expectations since the takeover by Qadbak. Sol Campbell, whom the director of football, Sven-Goran Eriksson, persuaded to join the club, quit only five weeks into a five-year contract at Meadow Lane. "Perhaps things are not happening as quickly as he thought they might," said the club's executive chairman, Peter Trembling, on Campbell's departure in September.
Blenheim 1862's sole directors are Glenn Rolley, who still serves as the supporters' trust's chairman, and Trembling. If County fail to settle and HMRC succeeds in winding up Blenheim 1862, Rolley or Trembling will be ordered to hand over the company's books and to explain why the business failed.
That will lead to an investigation by HMRC and, if there is any evidence that tax payments were deliberately withheld, a further inquiry, led by Lord Mandelson's Department for Business, Innovation and Skills, might follow. Under HMRC's insolvency rules: "This could result in the directors being disqualified from running a company for a period of between two and 15 years." Guardian
BBC Update - Notts head off winding-up threat
Notts County's owners Munto Finance, have moved to head off a winding-up petition issued by the High Court, reports BBC Radio Nottingham.
The petition relates to a six-figure debt accrued before Munto Finance took control of the Meadow Lane club.
Notts have lodged the money with the Bankruptcy Division of the High Court, where a winding-up petition is due to be heard next week.
However Notts say they are confident the petition will be withdrawn
Guardian/Matt Scott
Notts County on brink of winding-up proceedings• Club's parent company owes six-figure tax debt• High court bankruptcy division to hear case next week
Notts County's parent company will be wound up next week unless a six-figure tax debt is paid. The League Two club are the subject of an order scheduled to be heard at the bankruptcy division of the high court on 18 November. Despite the notice being served on 25 September on the club's UK parent company, Blenheim 1862, the debt has still not been settled.
There remain four days in which to make a settlement to prevent the case going before the courts. Notts County yesterday refused to comment.
"A Petition to wind up the above-named Company of Meadow Lane Stadium, Meadow Lane, Nottingham NG2 3HJ, presented on 25 September 2009 by the Commissioners for HM Revenue and Customs, claiming to be creditors of the Company, will be heard at the Royal Courts of Justice, 18 November 2009," read a statement published on 5 November 2009 in the insolvency-notices journal of record, the London Gazette.
The development is said to have come as a shock to those involved in the transaction to hand over the club in June to Qadbak, the British Virgin Islands-registered company. As part of that deal the supporters' trust wrote off almost £400,000 in shares and loans it held in Blenheim 1862. Qadbak owns County via another BVI vehicle, Munto Finance, which in turn holds the shares in Blenheim 1862.
It is understood that at the time of the transaction there was an assurance that the tax debts, believed to be approaching £400,000 and which threatened the existence of the club, would be quickly paid. A source close to the club claims sufficient funds are being held in an escrow account ready for release to HM Revenue and Customs once the matter has been heard by the courts.
The source added that the debts relate to PAYE and VAT submissions dating back more than two years. But it was the assurance of swift payment, along with claims of vast funds available to the club under Qadbak, that led to the trust handing over the shares to the BVI companies for free.
This is not the first evidence of Notts County being unable to deliver on expectations since the takeover by Qadbak. Sol Campbell, whom the director of football, Sven-Goran Eriksson, persuaded to join the club, quit only five weeks into a five-year contract at Meadow Lane. "Perhaps things are not happening as quickly as he thought they might," said the club's executive chairman, Peter Trembling, on Campbell's departure in September.
Blenheim 1862's sole directors are Glenn Rolley, who still serves as the supporters' trust's chairman, and Trembling. If County fail to settle and HMRC succeeds in winding up Blenheim 1862, Rolley or Trembling will be ordered to hand over the company's books and to explain why the business failed.
That will lead to an investigation by HMRC and, if there is any evidence that tax payments were deliberately withheld, a further inquiry, led by Lord Mandelson's Department for Business, Innovation and Skills, might follow. Under HMRC's insolvency rules: "This could result in the directors being disqualified from running a company for a period of between two and 15 years." Guardian
BBC Update - Notts head off winding-up threat
Notts County's owners Munto Finance, have moved to head off a winding-up petition issued by the High Court, reports BBC Radio Nottingham.
The petition relates to a six-figure debt accrued before Munto Finance took control of the Meadow Lane club.
Notts have lodged the money with the Bankruptcy Division of the High Court, where a winding-up petition is due to be heard next week.
However Notts say they are confident the petition will be withdrawn
