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BulldogBelle
20-12-2008, 12:18 AM
Let's hope Ezybonds comes through with the money....

Western Bulldogs still owed $390,000 from sponsor (http://www.news.com.au/heraldsun/story/0,21985,24824999-19742,00.html)
Mark Stevens
The Herald Sun
December 20, 2008

THE global financial crisis has hit the Western Bulldogs, delivering a savage cut of almost $400,000 to the club's bottom line.

Struggling shorts sponsor Ezybonds still owes the Bulldogs $390,000 and there is no guarantee the bill will be paid.

The Bulldogs' auditors have listed the outstanding money as a doubtful debt in the club's balance sheet.

It robbed the Dogs of a $1 million-plus profit, forcing them to settle for the $640,000 announced at Thursday night's annual general meeting.

Although the club has not given up hope of netting some of the owed money to boost next year's balance sheet, any further payment would be viewed as a bonus.

Ezybonds was also contracted to provide about $500,000 in sponsorship for next year, but has been forced to walk away from the arrangement because of financial pressures.

Bulldogs president David Smorgon last night said Ezybonds made a payment in July/August, but the money had dried up since.

"The principal of Ezybonds has good intentions and we can see that, but this is an example of how business is being hit by the crisis," Smorgon said.

"Some funding they were hoping to get didn't appear."

The Dogs would be happy to get half of the money owed, but are taking a realistic approach.

"Probably to get $100,000 of it would be a windfall," Smorgon said.

Bulldogs chief executive Campbell Rose said the club continued to have a strong relationship with Ezybonds.

"The company has been a great Bulldogs backer and we are hopeful of a satisfactory resolution," Rose said.

Smorgon said it was "extremely disappointing" the doubtful debt had cost the club a landmark $1 million profit.

It also means the Dogs are in the market for a new shorts sponsor.

"We now have a valuable asset, in the shorts, up for grabs," Smorgon said.

Despite the worrying outlook for Ezybonds, the Dogs were relieved this week when another doubtful debtor paid up in full.

The Dogs, like Melbourne and Richmond, are also seeking a major sponsor.

They have had several leads, but an announcement will now be delayed until after Christmas.

The going rate for a major deal is $1.2 million to $1.5 million a year and the club will not be lured into a cut-price deal.

"We've come too far and achieved too much to discount our assets," Smorgon said.

A British-based money transfer company, Ezybonds started its connection with the Dogs in 2006.

The $390,000 owed equates to a top-line player and is more than the Dogs earned from their entire roster of home games at Telstra Dome this year.

On Monday night influential supporters chipped in to raise $50,000 so the club could afford to draft another rookie on Tuesday.

GVGjr
20-12-2008, 06:17 AM
So not only we are looking for a major sponsor we are also looking for a Premier partner as well.

bulldogtragic
20-12-2008, 11:02 AM
So not only we are looking for a major sponsor we are also looking for a Premier partner as well.
HOLY %$#%$#^#&&#%#$#

Bulldog4life
20-12-2008, 11:21 AM
So not only we are looking for a major sponsor we are also looking for a Premier partner as well.


Reading between the lines you'd like to think that the Club has a major sponsorship sewn up. Or am I being too optimistic?

strebla
20-12-2008, 11:22 AM
I really like Smorgans attitude though he is very positive which is good.
Find it really exiting we still made over 600 thou and were short 390 cam Rose well done

GVGjr
20-12-2008, 05:00 PM
Reading between the lines you'd like to think that the Club has a major sponsorship sewn up. Or am I being too optimistic?


I think we will have a shortfall on last year but we should have a major sponsor announcement early in January.

Regarding Ezybonds, it's a fairly weak effort on their behalf because they got their signage up all through the season so I'm guessing we more than met our obligation to them.
Financial crisis or not, they should pay all or close to all the money they committed to.

MrMahatma
20-12-2008, 10:39 PM
Surely it's a legal obligation? So while we may not get the funds now, it's a debt they must pay at some stage - even if that's only $100k each year for the next 4 years.

BulldogBelle
20-12-2008, 11:04 PM
Financial crisis or not, they should pay all or close to all the money they committed to.

Yes, let's hope the Dogs get some of that money back into the coffers.

LostDoggy
21-12-2008, 12:41 PM
At the Rookie Fundraiser night, Smorgan commented that we would have made in excess of $1mil this year, except for a few doubtful debts, that he was confident we would still receive, only our auditors erred on the side of caution and wouldn't admit them.

azabob
21-12-2008, 04:10 PM
Surely it's a legal obligation? So while we may not get the funds now, it's a debt they must pay at some stage - even if that's only $100k each year for the next 4 years.

What is the old saying? Can't get blood out of a stone!

FrediKanoute
22-12-2008, 08:39 AM
I think we will have a shortfall on last year but we should have a major sponsor announcement early in January.

Regarding Ezybonds, it's a fairly weak effort on their behalf because they got their signage up all through the season so I'm guessing we more than met our obligation to them.
Financial crisis or not, they should pay all or close to all the money they committed to.

Should.....but the reality is they wont and there really isn't much the Doggies can do about it. The deal would rank us as an unsecured creditor and were Ezybonds to be put into Administration we would get nothing. What the club has done is take a very pragmatic business orientated approach to try to negotiate the receipt of a smaller amount in settlement of the debt. This does two things:

1. Its a win-win for both parties - we get more than we would if they had gone into administration and they get to settle a liability for less than book value;
2. It preserves the relationship which means that were Ezybonds to recover they are likely to continue their sponsorship of the club.

This really is smart business practice, taking a short term loss to hopefully benefit much more in the longer term.

LostDoggy
22-12-2008, 09:54 AM
"We now have a valuable asset, in the shorts, up for grabs," Smorgon said.

Freudian slip?

Sedat
22-12-2008, 10:23 AM
Should.....but the reality is they wont and there really isn't much the Doggies can do about it. The deal would rank us as an unsecured creditor and were Ezybonds to be put into Administration we would get nothing. What the club has done is take a very pragmatic business orientated approach to try to negotiate the receipt of a smaller amount in settlement of the debt. This does two things:

1. Its a win-win for both parties - we get more than we would if they had gone into administration and they get to settle a liability for less than book value;
2. It preserves the relationship which means that were Ezybonds to recover they are likely to continue their sponsorship of the club.

This really is smart business practice, taking a short term loss to hopefully benefit much more in the longer term.
100% correct, and a very smart approach by the Dogs. There is nothing to be gained for the Dogs by forcing Ezy Bonds into voluntary administration, a situation whereby any creditor would be lucky to recoup 5c in the dollar. Also, administrators don't do their job for the love of it: they need to be paid for their continued management of the administration process. So in the event that a particular creditor is unsatisfied with their share of the debt (once the distribution of company assets has been concluded by the administrators) and want to take further action to recoup a greater portion of what was originally owed to them, they will need to pay the administrators out of their own pockets to keep them on the case, and in many such cases the creditor is merely throwing good money after bad.

A wise man once said, "which would you prefer, 30% of something or 100% of nothing"

BulldogBelle
22-12-2008, 04:00 PM
Freudian slip?

That is funny - good pick up!

LostDoggy
23-12-2008, 02:54 PM
That is funny - good pick up!

Haha BB, maybe that's why they call 'em family jewels...

bornadog
23-12-2008, 03:15 PM
Good work by the auditors to write this off as I don't believe we will see a cent of the sponsorship.