According to corporate records, Everton has paid almost £30m in interest charges to an unclear lender linked with a tax exile. The Premier League club’s accounts suggest that the charges reached around £438,000 per week, which is more than three times the reported wages of the club’s goalkeeper, Jordan Pickford. A controversial alteration in accounting policy has allowed the club to report lower losses, and most of its cash outflow has been disregarded from the most recent profit and loss account.
Everton is believed to owe more than £500m to third-party lenders and is under rigorous financial scrutiny from the Premier League, with it being deducted points for violations of profitability and sustainability regulations. Documents relating to offshore companies suggest the trail of Everton’s RMF debt leads to billionaire tax exile Michael Tabor, the owner of numerous thoroughbred racehorses and the LBC owner, Global, and BetVictor gambling brand. Tabor’s wealth is £600m.
RMF is a Cheshire-based firm that borrows its funds from opaque offshore organisations to lend to football clubs. In total, approximately 70% of RMF’s loans have been granted to Everton. The club has changed its accounting policies to remove £19m of interest charges from its 2023 profit and loss account and republished its 2021 and 2022 sheets to remove a further £6m in interest charges, which reduce losses. According to the club, the interest is associated with the construction of the new Bramley-Moore Dock stadium and should be treated as an investment.
An Everton spokesperson has made it unequivocally apparent that there is no stadium funding from RMF. The RMF debt has interest charges of 5% on top of the Bank of England’s base rate, meaning Everton is paying 10.25% in interest. Everton would have reported more than £100m in losses in its previous financial year if its accountants had treated the interest expenses similarly to previous years, whereas its accounts indicated just £89.1m in losses. Everton, however, refused to offer any comment, while RMF did not bother to respond to the Guardian’s enquiries.
Everton’s auditors warned that there is a “material uncertainty” over future funding that might have a significant effect on the club’s ability to function as a going concern. Prospective buyers of the club, 777 Partners, has required precisely six months to gather money to finish its proposed takeover and is in danger of falling behind. Two-fifths of the Premier League’s clubs have yet to deliver their accounts as the deadline approaches
Read the full article from The Guardian here: Read More