The looming financial crisis at Ibrox has been highlighted in today’s edition of the Financial Times.
With no sign of Deloittes being able to produce accounts confirming the club as a going concern the last thing that struggling Sevco needed was for their Nominated Adviser, Daniel Stewart, to have their own shares suspended.
Add in a recent share issue that raised 76% of the funds needed alongside Hargreave Hale taking a 70% hit in disposing of shares and the picture begins to emerge of the crisis looming at the club.
“It is hard to know which company is closer to omnishambles – Rangers International Football Club or Daniel Stewart Securities, the club’s nominated financial adviser, or nomad,” the Financial Times tells it’s blue chip readership.
“Just as the Ibrox club most needs its nomad’s help, Daniel Stewart’s best minds are desperately trying to find the cash to plug the hole in its own accounts.
“Neither company’s woes are surprising on their own. But together, they create a mess that only exposes the risks of the Alternative Investment Market as an unregulated market.
“Last week Daniel Stewart admitted it lacked the regulatory capital required by the Financial Conduct Authority, the top City watchdog. It turns out that is why the broker missed the deadline for filing its accounts and suspended its Aim-quoted shares this month. If Daniel Stewart can’t find a knight to rescue it and fails to publish accounts by March, the suspension from Aim will become expulsion.
“Almost simultaneously, Rangers received a notice from Mike Ashley, the billionaire founder of Sports Direct, who owns Newcastle United and for reasons known only to himself has built a 9 per cent stake in Rangers. Mr Ashley is calling for a meeting to throw out the club’s chief executive, Graham Wallace, and its director, Philip Nash, from the Ibrox board.
The article continued: “Rangers must anyway hold its annual meeting by Christmas, when it will ask investors to stump up more cash to keep the club going. This is on top of last month’s £3m fundraising, which Mr Ashley refused to back. It won’t help that its nomad is caught in its own storm.
“If Daniel Stewart were to lose its nomad status, the clients would be handed over to other brokers swiftly, say regulators. That may not be so easy in Rangers’ case. The club has suffered persistent board spats and financial troubles and Daniel Stewart is its third nomad since it floated in December 2012. Brokers are not queueing for the job. But without a nomad, Rangers’ shares would be suspended.
“The departure of Daniel Stewart or Rangers from Aim may not be a cause for lament. But it should make Daniel Stewart’s other 25 or so clients think hard about the company they are keeping.”
Despite the concerns over the finances at Ibrox, as admitted by the recent share issue, the SFA and SPFL have refused to comment or give any assurances for the club that emerged from the secretive Five Way agreement hatched in July 2012.
