Being very careful what I say... Some words doing the rounds on Twitter, without going into detail of those words, does any one have any info of what's going on? Cannot verify the document but states 2nd May 2017 and uses words such as strike off.
OK it's GFC. I asked the question in my previous post because there are several companies associated with Scally's involvement in GFC. The notice is the first notice for Compulsory Strike Off, but the details won't be available for 5 days. I think that this is probably a first step resulting from the failure to file the 2016 accounts which were due on 28th February. I've no doubt they've had warning letters, and although PS has been unwell there is really no excuse these days for failing to file accounts on time in a properly run business. A similar notice has been made for GFC Holdings Ltd which is the company that PS uses to consolidate his interests in GFC, although the other large business consolidated in those accounts was Priestfield Developments Ltd. which was dissolved at the beginning of this year. However Accounts have been filed for Larchpoint Ltd (I can't remember offhand what that was formed for) and Three Directors, which was the company formed to loan GFC the funds to buy back the ground from Priestfield Developments Ltd. At this time I don't think it's a huge problem, just a hurry up notice. We will get a fine for late filing as well though.
Thanks itstimupnorth, was getting concerned for a minute it was something bigger. The reason i was concerned is we had spent out player budget, offering ST's for two seasons, so i started probably reading a bit more in to it than it was.
Who (outside the inner circle) knows what the reasons are? I'd like to think it's just down to PS's health issues delaying things, but there could well be something deeper. With accounting software being used for day to day bookkeeping there's no real reason why audited accounts can't be prepared by few months after year end. I think that larger companies only get 6 months to submit accounts, smaller get 9, and GFC have already taken 11 not to submit them. It's nearly the end of the next financial year. Something is going on for sure.
You would have thought after the McCammon case we would have learned to dot i's and cross t's by now.
For the sake of the public interest (if anyone is actually interested), I've just posted the following on the Gillingham Vital Football board. I've posted most of the information on here before, but it's a bit of a summary QUOTE For the sake of further clarity Gillingham Football Club Ltd. (00039175) is the club as we know it, of which PS owns 75% of the shares through his holding company GFC Holdings Ltd (06361208). That's the clear bit, and after that it gets more complicated. What follows is my understanding of situations and events, with timings based on accounting records, and not any more detailed and cross-checked research. Some of the events and information are referred to in other postings on this thread. Therefore I am not presenting it as definitive fact, or indeed that it is not already in the public domain (which it is), or anything new, but just a hopefully fairly comprehensive summary of my opinion of the current businesses relating to our club. Yes Mr. Scally, it is our club. You just happen to have custody of it at the moment. GFC Holdings Ltd is PS's holding company through which he consolidates his interests in GFC (the Club, not the Limited Company). In the last published accounts (May 2015) these were Gillingham Football Club Ltd and Priestfield Developments Ltd. Priestfield Developments Ltd. was the company that purchased the ground from the club for £10m in 2007/8. This was done through a loan / mortgage taken out on Priestfield Developments Ltd., and no doubt secured against the ground. Priestfield Developments Ltd. was 100% owned by PS. In 2011/12 Priestfield Developments Ltd. sold the ground back to Gillingham Football Club Ltd. for £1.8m, the funding for that coming from a loan to Gillingham Football Club Ltd. from a company called Three Directors Ltd. (company number 07627655), which is owned in equal shares by Mssrs. Scally, Quarrington and Anderson, who are also the directors of Gillingham Football Club Ltd. The 2016 accounts for Three Directors Ltd. have been filed, and those show that the debt was still outstanding at 31st May 2016. That of course left a substantial loss on the books of Priestfield Developments Ltd., in the last published accounts that loss was showing as £9.05m. Nevertheless in October 2016 an application was made to strike off Priestfield Developments Ltd., in other words to close down the company, and the company was duly dissolved in January 2017. I am not an accountant or a solicitor, but I would have thought that company law would prevent a company closing down voluntarily if it were insolvent or in debt. If that is the case them someone somewhere has written off the debt of £9.05m, unless it has been transferred to another company. So, where are we? I'm pretty sure that the first notice for compulsory strike off against Gillingham Football Club Ltd. and Priestfield Developments Ltd. has been made because the accounts for the year to 31st May 2016 have not been submitted to Companies House. We'll know more when the notice document is published which looks like it will be early next week. That leaves us with the question as to WHY the accounts have not been filed. With accounting software being used for day to day bookkeeping these days there's no real reason why audited accounts can't be prepared by few months after year end. I think that larger companies only get 6 months to submit accounts, smaller get 9, and GFC have already taken 11 not to submit them. It's nearly the end of the next financial year. Even an organisation as large as Lloyds TSB has today published its results for the first quarter of 2017 - possibly unaudited, but they are unlikely to publish anything that won't satisfy detailed scrutiny. Yes, PS has been ill, but that hasn't prevented him sorting out Priestfield Developments Ltd. I don't subscribe to the view that it's anything to do with declaration of his consultancy fees, I think he's too thick skinned to let that worry him, and in any case these are the accounts for the year that ended on 31st May 2016. What has happened since, including the dissolving of Priestfield Developments Ltd., will only be reflected in the current year's accounts, whenever they're published. As with many matters surrounding PS's running of the club there are mysteries, to which of many we may never know the answers, but my gut feeling is that something is going on (or has gone on, given the historic nature of accounting filing), and there is ongoing discussion as to how it can be legally reported, as would be required, whist disclosing as little information as possible. Ah well, it's a distraction from Sunday anyway. UNQUOTE
My guess/assumption has always been that the bank wrote the debt off. IF we were given such a fate of luck, I would also assume it is even more important to keep our account submitting squeaky clean, otherwise it just looks like we are taking the p. Football really does need to get it's house in order, transparency seems to be a word missing from it's vocabulary!
It's OK chaps, we're off the hook. Accounts have been filed (but won't be available online for a few days) and the winding up order has been rescinded. So all you people who risked your hard earned money for your season ticket, it's safe, and you can look forward to football at Priestfield next season. Well, perhaps 'look forward to' is a bit too optimistic, but hey, you never know
Got to be honest for some reason this pre season I have this gut feeling he is going to call time on us anytime soon. It's just when you weigh up all factors it seems more real than ever to happen.
Nearly £887k pre tax loss. Ok centre plate is to blame, but now it can only mean we have to sell Dack, we would be mad not to. This mess will not be sorted until November at the earliest, I guess it's going to be a very difficult season ahead. If what I read is true, we owe the three directors nigh on £2M. We need to clear this asap through player sales and just take what fate serves us next season. While in other news Ebbsfleet have a sell out crowd up the road today in their play-off final. Forget the new ground for us, we need to fix our current foundations or die as a club - time to get real!
As i said b4 we are a small club who have to sell to stay aloft and competive, anyone who thinks otherwise has to get real. The only times we make a profit is when we sell someone. We only have 2 players worth anything. Did well to sell Norris to the swine.
