Ibrox fans are seriously discussing a £175m takeover bid for their club.
Lending credibility to the yarn is Dr Dan Plumley, a lecturer in Sports Finance at Sheffield Hallam University.
Having racked up losses close to £100m in the decade from 2012 the club got close to break-even point in the year to June 2022 which featured a run to the final of the Europa League and the transfer of Nathan Patterson.
This season it has been business as usual with three separate share issues since the turn of the year, this hasn’t been new finance coming in but existing shareholders being repaid in shares for writing off loans.
No outside investment has come in, should anyone feel that way inclined it is very likely that within six months their stake in the club will be diluted. In 2017 Club 1872 owned 11% of the shares, today they have just over 5% of the club shares.
Regardless of that sober assessment popular fan site Ibrox News reports:
We’re delighted to welcome football finance expert Dr Daniel Plumley as our exclusive columnist. Each week he’ll be giving his views on the biggest talking points at Rangers…
Dan Plumley has insisted that a full acquisition or the long game is possible when it comes to a potential Rangers takeover in the near future.
The Heart and Hand Podcast have shared rumours that are swirling around forums and Whatsapp regarding a potential sale of the club, something which could be difficult given the numerous shareholders.
Plumley admitted that a £175million valuation is realistic right now, with multiple ways of getting a deal done if investors were to come in and thrash out talks.
“I think it depends on the people you are dealing with,” he exclusively told Ibrox News.
“There are multiple ways a takeover could happen, you can have full acquisition outright, everybody is dealt with at that time. You could start to build up a minority investment and turn it into a majority in the future as you start to buy people out of their shareholdings along the way.
“It depends on the negotiations with that one, the valuation is often more clearer than not, and I’ve said this before, if it is £175million, that’s a decent valuation for Rangers right now, but the models aren’t bulletproof.
“Then it is down to the investor, the owner, the shareholders and the stakeholders to thrash out what that looks like, whether that is a full acquisition and everyone is dealt with or it is staggered, it would be in the negotiations because, at that point, you’re dealing with people and their motives as much as the financials of it.”
On his Sheffield Hallam University profile, Dr Dan describes himself:
My main teaching and research interests are in the finance, economics, and governance of professional team sports. My PhD focused on measuring financial and sporting performance in English professional football. I regularly present at major international sport business conferences and have a number of peer-reviewed publications in the sport business field that focus on various aspects of sport finance. I also contribute to numerous media pieces discussing the finances of football with local, national, and international media outlets including corporations such as the BBC and Sky News.
Well, just for clarity: this chap is indeed a finance academic, per LinkedIn.
All his work experience is within teaching.
He does not possess any professional, financial qualifications – or relevant experience.
And as we all know: theory and practice can be rather different.
Of course, this doesn’t negate his academic opinion on all things sevco,
but some of his direct quotes can be taken with a bucketful of salt. For example:
“…if it is £175million, that’s a decent valuation for Rangers right now, but the models aren’t bulletproof…” [I’m assuming the valuation is for RIFC as a ‘going concern’ 🙂 ]
I was very keen to learn how the academic came to the ‘valuation’.
There are numerous, and contested, methods of valuing [profitable] businesses,
yet all this Dr. offers is that the valuation calculations “are not bulletproof”!
No sh!t Sherlock.
In saying that, if he is going to make more contributions as an “Ibrox News” columnist,
we may learn more about his approach and underlying assumptions?
However, I do think a lot of people, [myself included], think there is something ‘not quite right’ about the RIFC operations, as it’s just been a money pit since day 1.
After 11 years, break even is still some distance away, way over the horizon.
On the face of it, the ‘better’ option might be a pre-pack admin, to dump the debt?
And the catch-22 could be that IF anyone was seriously interested in buying RIFC,
then they would fully expect access to the operational data.
RIFC might not want to share that level of data with an external party,
[N.B. that is just based purely on my own suspicions].
I need to learn to refresh the page before I post!
As in ‘show us the deeds’ and all the onerous contracts with the
big ‘Yorkshire ( now c/o Le Chateau in the South of France), haunds’.
“…but the models aren’t bulletproof.”
So it’s all really nothing more than speculative pish, isn’t it Dr. Dan?
I wonder how much the gullible fools paid him to come on and blow fantasist smoke up their arses? He doesn’t have a PhD because he’s stupid, does he?
That’s a lot of Giro’s. And no small amount of bullshit.
He does have a PhD on vinyl and CD, he was known to have said,I Won’t Let You Down Won’t Let You Down Again.
He does have a PhD on vinyl and CD apparently he Won’t Let You Down.
A desperate klub and fan base going to desperate Dan for that Dr Feelgood Factor.
Does anyone think for one minute Duggie 5 chins and about a dozen others at that klub have just walked out on £175 million,for Big BEEFY BENNETT and others to laugh themselves all the way to the bank.
But hey the DAFTIES that attend the klan klubs games took it word for word previously from none other than the daily sevco that a BILLIONAIRE had taken over their klub,and we all know how that movie ended.
£175m 😀 😀 😀
Market capitalization refers to how much a company is worth as determined by the stock market. It is defined as the total market value of all outstanding shares. To calculate a company’s market cap, multiply the number of outstanding shares by the current market value of one share.- Investopedia.com
Now if we take the current Champions of Scotland who are currently going for a World Record 8th Treble,have Champions League guaranteed,around £20m cash at the Bank,a squad brimming with saleable assets,a ground thats in no need of immediate repair (and has scope to be developed into an 75-80k all seater) and zero Debts our shares price is currently stabilised at around £1.30 / share our Market Cap is around £123m.
Their share price (not on the main exchange ) is “worth” 30p if yer daft enough to pay them 30p a pop.
Which btw most Investors would laugh them out his office for.
Rockets.
Ps Our major shareholder is multi Billionaire in no rush to sell.
In fact if I had a million to spare right now I’d be buying shares in Celtic as the share price is only going to go up under the current situation.
Who drew that picture for you? I won.
There’s an addendum to that post you made containing the phrase
“Souvenir Leprecauns”.
Have you got it?
You’re a Nazi!
About 460 million shares in The Rangers have been issued. At a recent estimate of 20p per share, the whole kit and kaboodle could be had for about £92m. Of course anyone stumping up would get a club which is up financial $hit Creek with no prospect of improvement in the immediate future so they would liquidate, dump as much debt as possible, flog off the assets, trouser the proceeds and do walking away.
Any Bears looking for a takeover – be careful what you wish for; you may get it!
Big Dougie went in and had a good look at the er, Club!
And he did
“Walking Away”
quickly followed by another three or four directors.
So, what? Put it out there again!