Admin presser empty confidence

There seems to be more confusion than clarity following this afternoon’s press conference at Ibrox where Duff and Phelps gave information on Rangers FC PLC (in administration).

Most important item first.  The administrators confirmed that they will propose a Creditors Voluntary Agreement (CVA) in order to avoid the company being liquidated.  You should ignore sounds of confidence on this matter.  The administrators have to sound confident that they have a good deal for creditors, no point telling everyone, ‘We’ve made an offer, but ooph, don’t hold your breath!”

No indication was given that any creditors were on-side, never mind the 75% by value required.  HMRC will have the casting vote in this campaign and are exceptionally unlikely to set a precedent for football clubs to opt-out of PAYE, NI and VAT.

One fascinating wee snippet is the missing £24m from Ticketus.  Of course, if you believed Craig Whyte, the money went into the club.  Alternatively, the money was paid to Whyte’s solicitors in advance of the club sale and went straight to Lloyds Banking Group.  The remainder will be with one of Whyte’s companies and could well be paying salaries next week. Nothing too exceptional.

How Ticketus secured this loan is more intriguing, but there is so little information published this is not particularly surprising.  Ticketus might have screwed up, but I reckon there is simply a detail not yet revealed to the administrators or public.  A non-committal reply was given to a question on the floating charge over the company originally held by Lloyds, which will possibly reveal more about Ticketus when confirmed.

At some point, possibly next week, the CVA will be proposed.  Once the administrator has a response to this they will be in a better position to suggest how likely the company is to be liquidated. Until then, it’s all cheer leading by the guys from London.

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