The recent proposed share issue matter has raised a number
questions particularly on the Bulls Banter forum. Bulls News has obtained answers to most of issues.
There has been concern over the long-term availability of
Edgar Street stadium as a venue for professional football given the potential
involvement of property developers in any new lease arrangements. Bulls News now understands that the new
lease which has been negotiated with the head landlord (The Council) will
contain a clause restricting the use of the playing surface and adjacent
spectator stands, offices and supporters club to sports use with specific
reference to professional football.
Separate leases for the land behind to two “ends” will allow the
Football Club to let, on long term leases, the land for development
purposes. Until suitable partners are
recruited and their specific needs understood the exact terms of any letting
remains undecided although it seems clear that such leases could produce an
immediate major cash inflow, a long term income or a combination of the
two. Meanwhile, the Directors have made
it very clear that any development will be for the benefit of HUFC and
certainly not for personal gain. It has
further been confirmed that both the existing lease and the new proposed leases
are written in the name of HUFC and not individual directors.
There have also been questions regarding the proposed
conversion of Directors loans into new shares and more specifically if these
monies were originally put into the Club as loans or if they have been
converted to loans at a more recent time.
Bulls News has established that the company accounts at the year ended
31st May 2012 already showed loans owed to Directors of £296,144
with other (presumably owed to non-directors) loans of £92,139. It has also been established that Directors
were required by the company accountants to sign loan notes as clarification
and for tax reasons (presumably, donations would be included as income and
therefore subject to tax). These loan
amounts have been added too over the last eighteen months although Bulls News
does not have up to date totals of the amounts involved.
Bulls News also understands that it is not proposed that The
Directors will necessarily convert all loans into shares. In fact, the conversion rate may be well
below the maximum allowed by the shareholders mandate allowing existing and new
shareholders to own a greater percentage of the total than would otherwise be the
case.