David Murray's stake in Rangers takes a £4.5m hit

Published on Wednesday 14 April 2010 21:44

A FALL in the share price of Rangers Football Club led to a further £4.5 million write-down in the value of the stake held by one of Sir David Murray's companies, according to newly-published accounts.

The fall in the shares from 52p to 40p in the year to 30 June reduced the value of the stake in Rangers held by Murray Sports from 19.4m to 14.9m compared with an original book cost of 62.9m.

Murray Sports is 57.1 per cent owned by Sir David and holds its shares in Rangers through RFC Investment Holdings, which itself owns about a third of Rangers. The shares quoted on Plus Markets have since recovered to 42.5p.

The accounts also show that the amount owed in loans and interest to another of Murray's companies rose to more than 107 million, which could become payable if Rangers Football Club is sold, although it is not thought the condition would have to be enforced.

Murray Sports, which owns part of Sir David's stake in the club, has some 60m in long-standing loan notes due to Murray Group Holdings outstanding. Interest has never been paid on the loan notes, but has been accumulating and stood at 47.9m in June 2009, up from 43.9m in 2008.

The loan notes were created in 1999 when RFC Investment Holdings was demerged from Murray Group Holdings. Interest is payable on the loan notes at 1 per cent above base rate but only if RFC Investment Holdings makes a profit.

Rangers director David King is also connected to a 15.5 per cent stake in Murray Sports through Metlika Trading, a British Virgin Islands-registered company.

In March, Murray confirmed he was "considering options" over the potential sale of Rangers, with several high-profile businessman linked to a possible takeover.

Rangers' latest accounts, also to 30 June, 2009, show the club lost 12.7m, compared to a 7.2m profit the previous year when the club reached the UEFA Cup final. Turnover fell to 39.7m from the record high of 64.5m achieved in 2007-8. Debts rose to 31.1m.