Vast majority of Rovers’ debt cleared

THE vast majority of Bristol Rovers’ debt has been officially cleared, with paperwork ratified by Companies House.

Rovers’ president Wael AlQadi, through Bristol Rovers 1883 Ltd’s holding company Dwane Sports, has capitalised £18.1million in debt into shares in the club.

The move was announced in June following a change in ownership structure at Dwane Sports, with Al-Qadi taking a 90 per cent stake in the business which put him in sole charge of the football club.

He wrote off more than £2 million in interest and confirmed his intention to convert Rovers’ debt to Dwane Sports - which accounted for £18.4 million of the club’s overall debt of more than £24 million - into shares.

Some 4,847,746 shares have been issued at a price of £3.74 each, taking Dwane Sports’ ownership of Rovers to 96.5 per cent. The remainder is held by Bristol Rovers Supporters’ Club. The capitalisation relieves the club of most of its debt, with some preexisting lease and hire purchase agreements, still in place.

The Bristol Post understands the capitalisation is about 98 per cent complete on Companies House due to a form being misplaced by the registrar for the remaining 63,400 shares - which equate to about £230,000. However, with the paperwork filed, the process is legally signed off.

It is also understood a charge on the Memorial Stadium by Dwane Sports will remain in place should future debt capitalisation be required.

The capitalisation took several months due to the club’s rules on allocating shares. A change of regulations was required at the AGM in September, which allowed the club to issue more shares than its rules originally allowed. Questions have rightly been asked how the club was allowed to get into such a position in the first place. The board has since vowed to make the club a more sustainable business in future through a clear player recruitment plan and smarter spending on and off the pitch.

Annual losses in excess of £3 million were set to be halved before the coronavirus outbreak.

Al-Qadi has promised he will cover losses incurred by the pandemic.