March 5 – Premier League Burnley have denied that they are the subject of a £180 million takeover attempt by competing American and Middle Eastern investors. But a club statement said that they are always open to investment.
A report in the Times said that the club was in very early negotiations with potential investors and had signed a non-disclosure agreement with a US media company and prepared a prospectus for several other groups.
The club responded that they “are always open to investment, but nobody has approached the club, no agreement has been signed and we’ve no knowledge of any American media group or from the Middle East.”
Burnley is 49.3% owned by UK businessman Mike Garlick, with 27.5% owned by John Banaszkiewicz. The remainder of the club’s shares are owned by small stakeholders.
The club is having its most successful year in the Premier League despite not having won any of their previous nine games before beating Everton last weekend. This is Burnley’s second season back in the Premier League having bounced straight back after a relegation in 2015.
The club recently said that there were no plans to expand Turf Moor, their 22,500 capacity stadium though saud it has spent £20 million on improving facilities.
Burnley, an old East Lancashire cotton town, is one of the Premier League’s best managed clubs financial, posted a pre-tax profit of £34.6 million for its year to 30 June 2015 – just £500,000 less than Arsenal and Manchester City managed between them in that year.
The club posted losses of £3.7 million in the year leading up to their promotion back to the Premier League, ending June 2016 was made after paying bonuses for promotion to players and playing staff of £11.3 million. Figures for the most recent financial year are due this month.
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