Bristol City/Bristol Sport Corporate Update

[ExiledAjax]

Had some time this morning to take a look at the various boards that the Bristol City/Bristol Sport group has. There's been a few changes over the last year so it's a good time to update.

Most obviously Richard Gould left in early 2023 and Phil Alexander joined. Alexander is on the boards of Bristol City Football Club Limited (ie "the Club") and its subsidiary company Bristol City Women Football Club Ltd. He's not on any other boards, not even Bristol City Holdings Limited. It's a tight remit.

Doug Harman retired in February 2023 and so stepped down from all directorial roles across the group. He is however on the board of BCFC Heritage and Archive Limited which is the company set up by the Club and the SC&T to manage the online repository of our Club's history (still being worked on as I understand it and not live yet).

Of the other changes the most notable is the appointment of Victoria Long as a director of Bristol Sport on 1 July 2023. I cannot see any news item announcing this but from LinkedIn Ms Long appears to possibly be a new CFO for the Bristol Sport company. Not sure exactly what her remit will be but this may well be linked to the next piece of news.

Which is that, confirmed today on the Bristol Sport website, Mark Kelly and Gavin Marshall have adopted new board roles within the wider group of Pula, the parent company of Bristol Sport (and parent of Bristol City Holdings and therefore parent of the Club). Kelly was promoted to Director of Global Property Investment for Pula earlier this year, and has now officially stepped down from the Bristol Sport board (as of 1 July 2023), and away from its day-to-day operations. Kelly remains CEO of Ashton Gate Limited (the company that owns and runs the stadium). Marshall was promoted as Pula’s Director of Sport last year.

Michael Jones, Ben Letty, and Nicholas Reed previously held board roles at other group companies and have left the boards of the group entirely.

Jon Lansdown and Gavin Marshall remain the most prevalent member of boards. Marshall is on  every board bar Esteban Investments. Jon Lansdown is a board member of every group company bar Bristol City Women Football Club Ltd and Bristol Bears Women Rugby Club Ltd. Not sure why he feels he should be on every board other than the two women's teams...

Annual reminder that Bristol Sport does not own Bristol City.

Updated structure chart as follows:

[The Bard]

So, I assume that Pula is based offshore and hence that is why it owns everything?

Are their accounts published?

 

[ExiledAjax]

11 minutes ago, The Bard said:

So, I assume that Pula is based offshore and hence that is why it owns everything?

Are their accounts published?

Pula is incorporated in Guernsey so yes it is what's known colloquially as "offshore". Lansdown uses this structure for tax reasons.

Guernsey companies don't have to publish accounts publicly in the way English companies do on Companies House.

[phantom]

I need a lie down after trying to put all that together

[The Bard]

10 minutes ago, ExiledAjax said:

Pula is incorporated in Guernsey so yes it is what's known colloquially as "offshore". Lansdown uses this structure for tax reasons.

Guernsey companies don't have to publish accounts publicly in the way English companies do on Companies House.

So, you would assume that by now Mr Lansdown is possibly making a nice profit from the overall collection of entities?

[ExiledAjax]

6 minutes ago, The Bard said:

So, you would assume that by now Mr Lansdown is possibly making a nice profit from the overall collection of entities?

To be honest looking at the accounts we can see...no I doubt he's making much in the way of cash profit each season from the Companies under Pula Sport. He will one day benefit from the capital gain in share value and land value, but just taking City as an example, Pula Sport wrote off £22.5m of debt last month that City Holdings owed to it. So that's £22.5m of credit struck from the balance sheet of Pula Sport. 

So no, I doubt he's making profit each season on this group.

His main income will be from other shareholdings. For example he owns £281m worth of shares in HL, and they paid a dividend of about 4.5% last year, so that's £12.6m(ish) of income for Steve. That's his cash flow, not City/Pula Sport.

[Steve Watts]

13 minutes ago, The Bard said:

So, you would assume that by now Mr Lansdown is possibly making a nice profit from the overall collection of entities?

Considering the amount of debt he underwrites and the amount of money put into the stadium rebuild I would find this unlikely....

[Bristol Rob]

23 minutes ago, phantom said:

I need a lie down after trying to put all that together

Innit! 

 

It's like Who Do You Think You Are? On meth.

 

[Mr Popodopolous]

The idea that SL makes money out of the Bristol Sport, AGL etc venture seems crazy to me.

To mainly echo EA, as and when he sells up there may well be a large amount but until such time as he does sell up and there are ways. He could sell the sport, keep and rent the facilities- money flowing back both at point of sale and over time while keep f all of the non matchday  events revenue thst would take some time however.

I know someone who was adamant he was, but they came up with little evidence when I suggested they analyse the accounts over time.

You may be able to claw back a bit via headline losses but thst is merely reduction of losses a bit, not breakeven let alone gain.

[Kid in the Riot]

@ExiledAjax thanks for this. Very interesting.

Is the parent company at the top Pula based in Bermuda? I'm sure there is a Pula Ltd based over there. 

Regards Steve's other money making entities, I'm sure that Esteban Ltd will stand to make a small fortune from the sporting village (plus hotel and flats) scheme and of course the housing development at Longmoor Village.

[ExiledAjax]

2 minutes ago, Kid in the Riot said:

Is the parent company at the top Pula based in Bermuda? I'm sure there is a Pula Ltd based over there. 

I just searched the Bermuda registry..no result for "Pula".

I think it's all Guernsey based to be honest. There's about ten Pula companies in Guernsey.

[ExiledAjax]

25 minutes ago, Bristol Rob said:

It's like Who Do You Think You Are? On meth.

 

50 minutes ago, phantom said:

I need a lie down after trying to put all that together

Happy to try and answer any questions either of you have or take any feedback on how to lay it out in a more understandable manner. The more fans that understand this stuff the better!

[cidercity1987]

Granted I am just a simple Accountant dealing with SME's but is there any need for such a complex structure? Mindboggling for me let alone for a total lay person

A few interesting things for me:

The coach of the Flyers is also a director? 

Kelly seemed very good in his role so his promotion is somewhat a shame for the fans

 

[City37]

26 minutes ago, Kid in the Riot said:

@ExiledAjax thanks for this. Very interesting.

Is the parent company at the top Pula based in Bermuda? I'm sure there is a Pula Ltd based over there. 

Regards Steve's other money making entities, I'm sure that Esteban Ltd will stand to make a small fortune from the sporting village (plus hotel and flats) scheme and of course the housing development at Longmoor Village.

This gas gone very quiet - anybody know the latest on this..  start dates... phasing etc.

[Monkeh]

56 minutes ago, The Bard said:

So, you would assume that by now Mr Lansdown is possibly making a nice profit from the overall collection of entities?

He is making zero profit 

[ExiledAjax]

46 minutes ago, cidercity1987 said:

Granted I am just a simple Accountant dealing with SME's but is there any need for such a complex structure? Mindboggling for me let alone for a total lay person

A few interesting things for me:

The coach of the Flyers is also a director? 

Kelly seemed very good in his role so his promotion is somewhat a shame for the fans

The structure as a whole is, in my mind, not too crazy. Essentially Pula Sport owns each of the football, rugby, and basketball clubs through a separate tree.

Pula is the parent, and it has three basic children. That's sensible, it keeps each of those sports separate for accounts reason, to b honest it probably required by the regulations of each sport, and it means for example that if the Bears get relegated or suffer a drop in income, then City don't suffer directly.

Likewise it makes sense for the women's rugby and football teams to operate through subsidiaries of their respective men's team. No issue there imo.

Bristol Sport is essentially a services company that will  have commercial and other licensing agreement sin place with the club operating companies. So I can understand why it is a straight subsidiary of Pula rather than coming under one of the sporting clubs. It is a little odd to see it directly own the Flyers, and I don't know quite what is going on there. IIRC it's a quirk of the history of the basketball team, but one bit of tidying up might be to transfer Flyers direct to Pula Sport. 

Beggar Bush Lane and Esteban Investments are the companies doing the Sporting Quarter development. Again, not unusual for that to be outside of the sports club companies.

Ashton Gate Limited owns the stadium, and that's owned by our HoldCo rather than by the football club company. Again, a result of history.

Is it weird that the head coach of the Flyers is a director, I guess possibly, I don't know what the norm is in that sport tbh. Pearson could be a director of City if we wanted, doubt he'd want it though - why be subject to director's duties if you don't need to be?

[Kid in the Riot]

30 minutes ago, City37 said:

This gas gone very quiet - anybody know the latest on this..  start dates... phasing etc.

I'll be able to find out more next week but not a lot seems to be happening. Technically the sporting village application hasn't even been approved yet, as the legal agreement hasn't been signed. Once that's done there are planning conditions that will need to be addressed, and given the huge delays at BCC at the moment, that could take quite some time.

I'll see what more I can find out, but we're probably a year from construction work starting, absolute best case scenario.

[Hxj]

32 minutes ago, ExiledAjax said:

Beggar Bush Lane

Minor correction - this company owns the rugby club's training ground.

[Port Said Red]

I don't want to quote the whole of @ExiledAjaxlast post, but am I right in thinking that Terry Cooper was also a director when he was our Manager? I have known it happen at other clubs too.

[Davefevs]

2 hours ago, ExiledAjax said:

I just searched the Bermuda registry..no result for "Pula".

I think it's all Guernsey based to be honest. There's about ten Pula companies in Guernsey.

I’ve checked before….it’s Guernsey.  I think it’s only JL with Bermuda interests.  Could be wrong though.

2 hours ago, City37 said:

This gas gone very quiet - anybody know the latest on this..  start dates... phasing etc.

For those of us with season parking tickets at Wickes (me) and the other one (name escapes me) they’ve only offered us 6 months parking this season.  I assume this is because they might start work on those sites early next year.

[Eddie Hitler]

53 minutes ago, Port Said Red said:

I don't want to quote the whole of @ExiledAjaxlast post, but am I right in thinking that Terry Cooper was also a director when he was our Manager? I have known it happen at other clubs too.

 

Correct, but it isn't exactly commonplace.

 

Whilst with Bristol City in October 1983, Terry Cooper became the Football League’s first player-director this century.

https://grecianarchive.exeter.ac.uk/items/show/2240

 

[YorksRed]

3 minutes ago, Eddie Hitler said:

 

Correct, but it isn't exactly commonplace.

 

Whilst with Bristol City in October 1983, Terry Cooper became the Football League’s first player-director this century.

https://grecianarchive.exeter.ac.uk/items/show/2240

 

Terry Cooper never got the recognition he should have had for what he did for the club during one of its most difficult times, which saddens me.

[Eddie Hitler]

6 minutes ago, YorksRed said:

Terry Cooper never got the recognition he should have had for what he did for the club during one of its most difficult times, which saddens me.

 

He's often cited as our best / most important post war manager on here so the fans do indeed recognise his contribution.

[Mr Popodopolous]

2 hours ago, Eddie Hitler said:

 

He's often cited as our best / most important post war manager on here so the fans do indeed recognise his contribution.

From the fans certainly. 

From the club? Think we've been a bit slow but now we are improving ie the AG8 will be an annual event. The marking of the 1998 promotion team v Watford back in November.

Edited July 28, 2023 by Mr Popodopolous

[YorksRed]

2 hours ago, Eddie Hitler said:

 

He's often cited as our best / most important post war manager on here so the fans do indeed recognise his contribution.

Fans of a certain vintage do but I’m not aware of much having been done by the club, which was the point I was making.

[Davefevs]

3 hours ago, Davefevs said:

I’ve checked before….it’s Guernsey.  I think it’s only JL with Bermuda interests.  Could be wrong though.

For those of us with season parking tickets at Wickes (me) and the other one (name escapes me) they’ve only offered us 6 months parking this season.  I assume this is because they might start work on those sites early next year.

Just to update, I had moved to Winterstoke Rd car park this season.  The price had gone up considerably for all parking.

I had an email from the club today saying they were refunding me a substantial amount, to bring it back in line with last season’s prices.  I can only guess there was a fair bit of moaning at the price hike?

[ExiledAjax]

1 hour ago, Davefevs said:

Just to update, I had moved to Winterstoke Rd car park this season.  The price had gone up considerably for all parking.

I had an email from the club today saying they were refunding me a substantial amount, to bring it back in line with last season’s prices.  I can only guess there was a fair bit of moaning at the price hike?

Yeh I heard that parking, including disabled parking, prices had skyrocketed. Up to something like £450 a season!

4 hours ago, Davefevs said:

I’ve checked before….it’s Guernsey.  I think it’s only JL with Bermuda interests.  Could be wrong though.

I'd be certain the Lansdowns have some sort of company in Bermuda to buy their property out there. However so far as I know there's no Bermudan element to City (other than Mr. Wells of course).

Has anyone heard anything about Victoria Long? Quietly slipped in as a director of Bristol Sport. According to LinkedIn she'd been a trustee of the Bristol Bears Foundation since 2016 and has a background in corporate finance. Anyone met her or know anything else?

[City Rocker]

6 hours ago, Port Said Red said:

I don't want to quote the whole of @ExiledAjaxlast post, but am I right in thinking that Terry Cooper was also a director when he was our Manager? I have known it happen at other clubs too.

Player, manager, director, administrator, father-figure, ticket seller, caterer, cleaner, ambassador, role-model, removal man*, spokesman, saviour, legend.

*ref Alan Walsh

[ExiledAjax]

6 hours ago, Port Said Red said:

I don't want to quote the whole of @ExiledAjaxlast post, but am I right in thinking that Terry Cooper was also a director when he was our Manager? I have known it happen at other clubs too.

He doesn't show as having ever been a director of either Bristol City Holdings (incorporated in 1980) or (obviously) Bristol City Football Club (Inc. 1996). Could have been on the board of a company that was in the structure in the 80s but is no longer alive or involved.

[W-S-M Seagull]

10 hours ago, City37 said:

This gas gone very quiet - anybody know the latest on this..  start dates... phasing etc.

In the interview Mark Kelly gave after the planning meeting he said they wanted to be on site mid to late summer. I guess thats been pushed back for whatever reason.