Business
Trading update - Wimbledon Studios Limited
Trading update - Wimbledon Studios Limited.
About this update from Panther Securities Plc
[{"type":"text","content":"\n \n 5 August 2014\n\n Panther Securities PLC \n\n (\"Panther\", the \"Company\" or the \"Group\") \n\n Trading update - Wimbledon Studios Limited \n\nIt is with regret that the Company reports that administrators from KPMG LLP\nwere appointed today to resolve the financial issues of our tenant and\nassociate investment Wimbledon Studios Ltd (\"Wimbledon Studios\").\n\nPanther, as an investor, originally subscribed £150,000 for 25 per cent of the\noriginal start-up share capital of Wimbledon Studios, as well as providing\nworking capital loan facility of £622,000, which was fully drawn down at\ntoday's date. The investment was fully written down and all but £220,000 of the\nloan was provided against in the accounts for the year ended 31 December 2013.\n\nThe Group was also the landlord of the Studio property and assisted the\nWimbledon Studios business by not collecting rent and lease payments for\nfixtures. At today's date, the Group is owed £1,641,000 by Wimbledon Studios\nregarding these rental payments, of which £1,485,000 was provided within the\naccounts for the year ended 31 December 2013, leaving remaining exposure £\n156,000.\n\nTherefore the total unprovided debt to the Group is currently £376,000.\n\nDespite the Board of Panther being of the opinion that it could not provide any\nadditional financing, Andrew Perloff, Chairman of Panther, personally loaned\nWimbledon Studios additional finance of £250,000 as he believed the business\nstill had some chance of survival through possible further outside investment\nor the sale of the business as a going concern.\n\nPanther, who are a long term supporter of small businesses, has taken the view\nthat it has a moral duty to smaller businesses and, as such, is prepared to\nsupport a slower close down process via administration, rather than a forced\nliquidation, which would result in lower costs to Panther. This slower close\ndown will give the many small businesses in the media village time to prepare\nand find alternative premises.\n\nThe Group has lost significant funds on its corporate investment and loans to\nWimbledon Studios, however, the majority of this was provided against in the\naccounts for the year ended 31 December 2013. The Company expects that it will\nsuffer a further loss of between £376,000 (not provided against above) to circa\n£600,000 in the c...