Celtic Stock Exchange Update – Investment firm increases stake to 18.45% and owns 17m shares

A blue chip investment firm from the City of London has increased its stake in Celtic to 18.45% and the Westminster based firm Lindsell Train has emerged as the second biggest shareholder in the club, behind only the Irish billionaire Dermot Desmond.

The new investment was made on 27 February and was confirmed this morning by the London Stock Exchange – see HERE

And while you are looking at that link have a look at the Key Fundamentals chart. For Revenues in the two years prior to Rodgers arriving at Celtic the club’s revenues were £51.08million to 30 June 2015 followed by £52.01 in the year to 30 June 2016.

The next two years saw a dramatic increase in Celtic’s revenue with the figures to 30 June 2017 reaching £90.64million and in the following year to 30 June 2018 that increased to £101.57million.

So in Ronny Deila’s two years in charge Celtic turned over £103.09million
Covering the two full seasons that Rodgers completed, Celtic’s turnover increased to £192.21million.

That’s an increase of £89.12million and what happens next in terms of selecting the manager and backing him will determine whether Celtic will remain on this upward path or return to the lower levels that were all we could muster when Deila was the manager.

So what are Lindsell Train doing building up their stake in Celtic? It wa founded by and is run by Nick Train and Michael Lindsell in 2000 and they been investing in the Hoops for almost 12 years, continually building up their stake. They also have shares in Juventus and see Celtic as being attractive because the Scottish Champions could dramatically increase its revenues if key structural media events happen and/of there is movement on new league structures throughout European football.

The Lindsell Train website outlines their goals.

“Running client capital as we would our own. Our primary aim is to protect the real value of our clients’ capital over the long term. In so doing, we expect to outperform market benchmarks.”

Note that they are interested in long term investments.So why Celtic? Well when speaking to trust net.com last year Lindsell outlined his vision and the reason why Celtic is attractive to his firm.

“There is a diaspora of potential Celtic supporters from Scottish Catholics around the world that follow the club vicariously,” Lindsell said.

“If ever Celtic were to tap into that supporter base more, or could morph their media rights from just the Scottish Premiership into something bigger, then the revenues of the company could double or triple very quickly.

“So nothing much is going to change with Celtic in terms of the revenues it earns today if it doesn’t change its league structure – and there are no prospects of it doing so as far as I can see.

“But I wouldn’t be surprised if the agenda from the owners over the very long term is to get things changed.

“If that was ever a likely event the value of the franchise would be enormous.”

 

Did they really need to say "Scottish catholics"?

 

You can see from that how they understand * about the club and all they know is the silly stereotypes. There are people here from Brazil, Sweden, Croatia, Canada, who dont give the slightest * to religion.

 

The Pope's XI

 

They bring up a great point that the fans have been saying for years, if we could sell our own tv rights we’d make so much more money as would other teams in the league. Should be ditching Sky and BT to create a SPFL channel in UK then sell our own rights abroad.

 

I would’ve thought the large Irish contingents in the USA would the the market to be tapped into?

Didn’t think there were enough Scottish catholics worldwide to have a big impact Or are they looking to get hibs fans involved

 

If Celtic is going to become all it can be, we don't need "blue chip investment firms from the City of London" behind the scenes giving their input. Yes, balance the books, but these kinds of businesses are interested in profit first.

 

How big are dermots shares, is this firm in danger of taking over?

 

Nowhere near taking over.
On Celtic site it doesnt show how many shares he owns but suspect its through a company although dont know which one.

Current share statement

http://www.celticfc.net/pages/corporate_sharecapital

 

What i want to know are these * going to be investing any dough into the team?

 

* isn't real, Atheist CSC

 

I got money with these. The invest heavy and they hold long term. They are really well thought of and if they are investing with you, you must be doing something right. Good sign as far as I’m concerned imho....

 

The bit i put in Green bold i like.
Are they thinking of making Juventus our new academy team.

 

They’re an investment firm who would have no interest in the running of a football club, or taking one over.

Of course, we’re a business to them first and foremost but they’ll recognise that success on the field is a major driver of our success as a business. The fact they’re accumulating a sizeable stake in Celtic isn’t really a good or bad thing in itself. It’s simply a bet by them that our shares will be worth more at some point in the future than they are today.

 

Exactly this, they bought share because they think the shares will go up in value and/or the dividend will make them a profit.

My boss is pals with one of them (can't remember if Linsell or Train). He buys "brands", it's his thing. Pretty sure they own a not insignificant portion of WWE. He doesn't care about Celtic emotionally, but that's not a bad thing here.