Company: West Bromwich Albion PLC
Sector: Leisure, Entertainment & Hotels
Address: The Tom Silk Building, Halfords Lane, West Bromwich, West Midlands B71 4BR
Tel: 0121 525 8888 Fax: 0121 553 6634
Brokers: Albert E Sharp Securities
Advisors: Albert E Sharp Securities
| INVESTMENT INFORMATION | FINANCIAL REVIEW | |||
| Price of Ordinary Shares | 10500p | Year to: June £’000 | 1998 | 1999 |
| High/Low | 12500/9500p | Turnover | 7,460 | 6,758 |
| Number of shares in issue | 87,000 | Gross Profit/(Loss) | - | - |
| Market Capitalisation | £9m. | Operating Profit/(Loss) | 550 | -2,111 |
| Stated earnings per share | - | Net Int. Receivable/(Payable) | -41 | -146 |
| Historic P/E ratio | - | Pre tax Profit/(Loss) | 509 | -2,257 |
| Dividend yield | - | Profit att. to ord. Shares | 509 | -2,257 |
| Dividend Yield relative to FTSE | - | Earnings per share | 7.2p | - |
| P/E ratio relative to FTSE | - | Dividends per share | - | - |
| Net Asset Value | £9,119,268 | |||
| Net Asset value per share | 10500p | |||
| Net Cash (Borrowings) | -£2,767,924 | |||
| Gearing Ratio | 30% | |||
| Gearing Ratio ex. Intangibles | 42% |
With the 1999/2000 football season looking as unproductive as ever for seemingly perenniel Nationwide First Division club West Bromwich Albion (WBA), the best thing which might be said about the current financial results is that the bulk of the considerable losses - £1.8 million – is down to the writing off of players contracts, which is due to the ever-helpful attendance of the accounting profession, and their insistance on the amortisation of players’ contracts. Not that the chaps should be blamed of course given the considerable uncertainties around the subject – but, like vitually everyone else WBA will be convinced that the true value of the playing staff is thus hidden.
The other point of investment interest surrounded the attempt of Mr.Paul Thompson, a major shareholder, to oust the Chairman – who holds only slightly less equity - an initiative which at least partly succeeded when the latter eventually stepped down as Chairman in December 1999, although still remaining a director. Along the way there was an attempt to cry "concert party", and force a mandatory bid, an attempt that failed.
An experienced businessman will not have to look very far to see that only sustained success on the pitch, if that, seems likely to transform the investment merits of also-rans in investment in football clubs, and with another thrusting Nationwide First Division club, and a Premier League club in the same conurbatation, WBA looks to be a labour of love. But stranger things have happened of course, and the recruitment of a well respected and experienced manager is a start.
INVESTMENT RECOMMENDATION
For supporters only.