Here are further responses to questions that have been asked:
Q – What are BUs plans for raising
a) the remainder of the £1m needed to deal with Ron Noades and
b) the money needed to keep the Club afloat?
A – The remainder we need to raise is £500,000 and if we raise this amount together with the continued financial support from Bees United members then we should be able to keep the Club "afloat". We are going to continue with our Back the Bees campaign but to differentiate it from the previous campaign, we will call it Back the Bees 500 (BtB 500). To raise an additional £500,000 we will undoubtedly need some six figure sums from supporters who have previously expressed interest but who have not yet made a pledge.
Q – What will BUs information campaign be while due diligence is happening?
A – The plan is to increase the flow of information through our existing channels of communication and the general media during this period. We will do this by giving regular updates.
Bees United members' survey is being sent out to not only to help us understand our members' views on how the trust is being run but also establish the main communication channels used by them. We will use the information received to improve our communications, however we can only do so if the surveys are returned. Please help us to improve our performance and communication by completing and returning the forms by 28th October.
Q – Will the club be accepting the Football Trust funding to redevelop Griffin Park? If yes, what is the current estimate for the club's contribution towards the costs and what timescale is for the improvements? If no, how will the club make up the shortfall between income and expenditure?
A – The Club will accept the grant funding, which is for 77% of the cost up to a maximum of £1.77m, when it is able to finance the other 23% and when it is confident that the cashflow can be managed.
The current plan for the 23% is to attract commercial sponsorship for all of this. The full cost of the improvements will not be known until construction tenders are received. Tenders cannot be invited until the team of professional advisors (architects, structural engineers, quantity surveyors etc) have produced full specifications, design drawings and bills of quantities. Under the rules of the grant the Club cannot claim against the cost of producing these until construction work on site has been started. This and the fact that the grant instalments are not paid until after the contractor has been paid creates a challenge for the cashflow management.
Under the normal rules we would have to start drawing down the grant within 12 months, i.e. by this October, but the club have discussed the current situation with the grant-making trust who have agreed that, provided they are kept fully informed, they can be flexible.
Q – It seems clear that the current £4.5M is to be covered by:
– £1M BU 'input', is this the current 730k + 500k from HBC – expenses?;
– £1M interest free loan from Altonwood, what are the repayment terms of this?;
A – This was the case until a few weeks ago, when we were looking to raise £4.5m. When the latest cashflow forecasts came from the Club, however, they made it clear that a further £0.5m would be required. We are therefore looking for £5.0m, made up as follows:
| Bank loan | 2.0m |
| Bank overdraft | 0.5m |
| HBC | 0.5m |
| Altonwood | 1.0m |
| BU | 1.0m |
Q – The less well defined item is the business plan for ongoing trading of BFC plc. What are the major assumptions of this business plan?
A – The major assumptions were included in the PowerPoint presentation that Brian Burgess gave at the BU Members Forum in May. This is still available on the BU website here.
Q – As £2m is now a 15 year term loan from Barclays as opposed to an overdraft, what is the monthly repayment amount, as I have a feeling that this will be considerably more than the monthly interest of an overdraft of £4.5m? / Barclays are now lending us 2m instead of an equivalent overdraft, what are the annual repayments on this over 15yrs?
A – The Barclays' £2m loan will be interest only for the first three years, during which time the details of the repayment schedule for the principal amount will be agreed.
Q – What rate of interest is the £500K overdraft facility from Barclays?
A – This is subject to negotiation.
Q – Are we going to be transparent about how badly the club has been run financially (a) by Noades/Hargraves and (b) since Noades went to Spain?
A – Our job is to focus on dealing with the current situation and sorting out the future. This is a demanding and time consuming task, which deserves all our energy. Anything else is a distraction.