Longford Town FC Financial Update 2015-2017

Background

Longford Town trade under a company called Domeford Limited (450246) which was set up in Dec'07. Longford joined the league in 1984 and originally traded as Longford Town Football Club Limited (93442) which was set up in Feb'83. At some point in 1997/98 the original company became a property holding company owning the stadium that Longford Town now play in. I can't make out what entity owned/ran the club between 1998 and 2008 when Domeford then took over. Longford finished 6th & 12th in the premier division in 2015 & 2016 and finished 5th in Division 1 in 2017. Longford play at the City Calling Stadium which as I said is owned by the original football club company. Domeford is owned by 2 people with a 50% stake each who have owned this shares since the company was set up in Dec'07.

Profit & Loss

Over the last 3 years, Longford Town were in the premier division for 2 of them and the first division for the last one. As you can see in the table below, the club has broken even for the 3 seasons.

From reading the accounts there does not seem anything exceptional in terms of income in the accounts which would show a club living within in means and running on a sustainable basis. The club got promoted to the premier division at the end of 2014 and as a result its wages cost went from (€130k) in 2014 to (€198k) in 2015. Given they finished 6th that season after stepping up it was a very good season for them, although they did lose money. 

In 2016 the club broke even with wages running at (€205k) in the year. The club clearly didn't increase investment here where as other clubs in the league did and as a result Longford struggled and finished last. The club made a small profit in the year after settling back into the premier division.

2017's profit was very strong and there is nothing to indicate anything exceptional in here. Payroll fell to (€155k) after falling back to division 1. To put this into context Longford finished 5th this season behind Waterford who won the league. Waterford with the money from Lee Power ran up losses of (€289k) in this 1 year which shows what the likes of Longford are up against in terms or resources.

Overall there is very little P&L information shown but it would appear that the club is well managed and living within in means, even though as more benefactors come into the league it makes it harder for the likes of Longford to both get up and stay up.

Balance Sheet

At the end of Nov'17 Longford have negative reserves of (€147k) from circa 10 years trading. They have current assets of +€67k and liabilities of circa (€216k). The great thing as regards these liabilities is that circa (€176k) is owed to supporters and related parties which have given this money interest free and won't be requesting repayment in the immediate future. As a result of most of the liabilities being owed to fans this would indicate that the balance sheet is in quiet a good place for going forward.

Summary

Longford seem a well run club living within its means. It has no real debt issues that would worry a reader. Its challenge will be getting back to the premier division, it is currently in the final playoff position with 2 league games to go. If they can secure promotion they will have to invest in the team in order to stay up and given the wages demands in the premier division with European money and benefactors this will be a big demand on the club.

Longford Town Football Club Limited

This company owns the City Calling Stadium having originally also run the football club. This is an interesting company whose only asset is the stadium. The company spent a lot of money building the ground in 2003/2004 and spent circa €1.37m on the stadium. At the height of the property boom, the company revalued the stadium to be worth circa €3.5m (Nov'07 accounts). The company owed money on the building of the stadium to various people but given that valuation the balance sheet looked very strong in Nov'07.

However in the Nov'15 accounts the property was again revalued and this time to be worth €280k which is its carrying value today. This company is probably a good example of the Irish property bubble and its impacts on accounts.

At Nov'17 its main asset is the ground worth €280k and it has liabilities of circa (€800k). Luckily for the club and this company circa (€744k) is owed to Jim Hanley or his company. Per the accounts he has indicated he won't be looking for repayment in the immediate future which leaves the ground and thus the club safe. Jim Hanley is the current Longford Town FC chairman and long time supporter and the club are obviously lucky to have his support re the legacy stadium debts.