Chesterfield clarify financial position as £2m loan is written off

A 2 million loan has been written off by A&S Leisure Group.

Spireites' company secretary Ashley Carson released a statement on Wednesday confirming that the club's majority shareholder Dave Allen had written off a debt of just over £2 million owed to one of his other companies, A&S Leisure Group.

That in turn reduced the club's outstanding debt to around £9.2 million, reflecting the amount of money Allen has put into the club over the years, and meant that its liabilities no longer showed as exceeding the club's assets.

The statement was released by the club to explain to supporters why its financial position had suddenly appeared to have improved.

It read: "We are aware that certain regulatory filings have been made at Companies House in recent days in respect of the Company (CFC 2001 Ltd), and therefore wish to appraise fans and shareholders of the circumstances behind this.

"The majority shareholder, Dave Allen, continues to provide finance to the football club as and when required. As a result of this continued funding throughout the financial year to 30 June 2019, the Company balance sheet showed a net liabilities position at the financial year end (in effect its liabilities exceeded its assets). This is not an ideal position for a Company to show as it can alarm the reader of a set of financial statements if they are not aware of the background to this position.

"As a result, in order to improve the balance sheet position of the Company and to eliminate the net liabilities position, Dave Allen has, in agreement with A&S Leisure Group, written off the loan owed by the Company to A&S Leisure Group which stood at a balance of £2,045,098. As a result, the various legal charges that were in place in relation to that loan have been deemed to be satisfied.

"Dave Allen continues to support the Company providing finance as and when required. Following this write off of the loan balance, a total of £9,274,098 was still owed to him at 30 June 2019, reflecting the amount of money he has injected into the Company over a number of years. The Company is grateful for this continued support and is looking forward to the start of the season, hoping for a successful start to the new campaign."

Chesterfield begin the new National League season at home to Dover Athletic on Saturday.