Toffeeweb - The Mail Bag - The Price is Right!

The Price is Right!

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I?ve posted during the summer basically saying that the most obvious key to any sale of Everton is directly related to the price being asked by the current owners. This seems to be the one question no-one will answer but it seems clear to most ordinary people that if you are asking way in excess of a realistic price then you are very unlikely to sell.

Minor shareholders such as myself and other fans have no idea if this is the case but without being told the asking price we cannot form a proper opinion. I?m sure everyone is a willing seller of their house or car at two or three times the market value and I think the same view applies to most things including football clubs!

The latest information from the infamous Blue Union meeting with Bill Kenwright indicates that the only pre-condition to the meeting imposed by Mr. Kenwright was that they would not ask him the price being sought for any sale. This pre-condition was agreed to but surely the answer to that question is the most imperative to the future of Everton Football Club?

Furthermore, if the club is genuinely for sale then why are the current owners so unwilling to indicate an asking price?
Andy Riley, Widnes Posted 30/08/2011 at 11:48:06

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Tommy Coleman
1 Posted 30/08/2011 at 14:59:17

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I agree. It's completely bizarre. Such a simple question to ask and answer.

Kenwright said that they've prepared a prospectus, i'd like to see the contects of this, although I doubt a price will be in here.

The lack of ability to answer this oh so simple question tells me that there has been no price decided, which in turn tells me that the club isn't really for sale.

Jimmy Hacking
2 Posted 30/08/2011 at 15:14:09

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the cost of purchasing Everton football club is

£118,643,971.78

just wanted to clear that up

Ciarán McGlone
3 Posted 30/08/2011 at 15:13:41

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I thought the Blue Union had mysteriously missed that most obvious of questions in their meeting with 'Yer man'...

However, it's now since emerged that this was a banned question...I don't understand this position at all. Obviously if you have an interested buyer then they need to know the price..I fail to see how having this information in the public domain could affect the sale..

I feel they've something to hide on this most pertinent of issues..

If i'd been in the BU shoes, I wouldn't have asked about the price i'd have asked this - "are you, as a committed Evertonian, willing to sell your shares for the same price you paid for them? If not, why not?"

I doubt that would have gotten an answer either.

Steve Abraham
4 Posted 30/08/2011 at 15:39:50

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Hasn't Elstone said in the past that Company owners don't say what they are selling for? Presumably the buyer put forward an offer and then negotiations take place.

I am not a shareholder myself. Maybe if one of the posters who is a shareholder could say how much his/her one share is worth and then multiply by the number of shares (if known). That would give us a starting point. Then we could consider how much the shareholders would want as a return on their investment. This is probably very simplistic, but may provide a ball park figure.

I am sure there must be a better way of obtaining an approximate valuation.

Andy Riley
5 Posted 30/08/2011 at 15:46:24

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I am a shareholder with a single share. I think like many this is purely a sentimental thing and obviously not really held as an investment. The shares in Everton are not listed on any stock exchange but are available via a stockbroker in Liverpool on a matching basis. That means that via the stockbroker a buyers and a seller agree a price but the stockbroker obviously offers some guidance on the price. I acquired my single share about 5 years ago and paid in the region of £1,250 for it. I believe that single shares currently change hands at a similar price. When True Blue Holdings which was the vehicle that Bill Kenwright and his then associates used to buy out Peter Johnson I think they paid around £24 million for a shareholding of around 75% which I believe gave an individual share price in the region of £850. Therefore the total value of Everton Football Club when it last changed hands can be assessed at about £32 million. What is required for a serious buyer is an indication of the current price for the majority shareholding. This needs to be coupled with details of how that compares with the last selling price together with some explanation of the reasoning for any increase or decrease between the two figures. It could be argued that because of the perceived increased debt since the True Blue Holdings takeover that the club is actually worth significantly less now than it was then!

Richard Dodd
6 Posted 30/08/2011 at 16:09:28

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Personally,I`ve never thought BK `was in it` to turn a profit but had that been the case,any hope of it surely went out of the window when DK went belly-up!
With the alleged debt book now dwarfing the value of his controlling interest,Bill will do very well to get his `in-money` back.....and I suspect he knows it!

Gavin Ramejkis
7 Posted 30/08/2011 at 18:04:00

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Doddy surely if Black Bill wasn't looking for a profit he'd have no problem with dlluting his shareholding with a share rights issue, he isn't and never has been as per the DK hearings, he's looking for a profit. On what exactly is a different question as he borrowed from the Greggs to buy the club then had them bought out, if anything he's probably up to his eyes in it for his very meagre negligible investment

Simon Harris
8 Posted 30/08/2011 at 19:17:06

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Find the guy in the 1 bedroom flat who conducted due diligence - he knows.

Christopher Kelly
9 Posted 30/08/2011 at 23:05:24

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Exactly what I was thinking #8 Simon....

If the BU can get a meeting with Kenwright, we can find that muppet!!!

Chad Schofield
10 Posted 30/08/2011 at 20:29:49

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It's a pretty sorry state of affairs given that it came across as though the brochure was a new thing. Surely marketing the club in an attractive and professional manner would be up there top of the list when even contemplating selling.

Steve Smith
11 Posted 02/09/2011 at 00:15:13

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"are you, as a committed Evertonian, willing to sell your shares for the same price you paid for them? If not, why not?"

Would you ? having presided over a company that has shown "growth" of 33 % according to some on this site, surely that's worth a bit of profit on your investment isn't it ? you have grown the company, and by definition made it worth a lot more now than it was then, so if it was you {as a true blue} are you prepared to sell it for what you bought it for ? bearing in mind that this actually means selling at a loss.

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