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In the semester in which the covid-19 pandemic started, and in which it had to return 48 million euros to bondholders, Benfica’s SAD had to reuse money from the bank, from which it has been trying to get (and vice versa). With a credit line opened in 2017, it was in the first six months of 2020 that the company chaired by Luís Filipe Vieira used 28 million euros in a loan from Novo Banco.
Between January and June, on an unidentified date, Benfica obtained a loan requested from Novo Banco for 28 million euros, information contained in the report and accounts from July 2019 to June 2020, presented this week to the Market Commission of Values. Values (CMVM). These data were not included in previous reports. In the previous season, it was mentioned that Benfica SAD had “contracted a line of credit with Novo Banco for the maximum amount of 30 million euros”, but that it had not been used until that date.
TO Tribune Express, SLB official source clarifies that this is the “only bank financing contract currently existing between the Nis yesalso is this sleisure ” is that “He was hired in June 2017, as a result of the restructuring and liquidation of previous contracts signed from 2008-09.”
Cover “cash needs”
QAsked about the reason for the activation of a line that has existed for three years, Benfica does not specify: “This line of credit is used based on Benfica SAD’s short-term cash needs. Throughout the exercises, its use has varied from zero to the maximum usable limit, depending on the specific existing needs ”.
A use occurs in the first months of 2020, when the new coronavirus arrived in Portugal and forced the country to stop, jeopardizing revenuesand various companies, such as clubs football. And this at a time when society had money to give back to its supporters.
In January the impact of covid-19 had not yet been imagined, and Benfica SAD decided to prepay bonds sold in 2018 to investors, mainly sympathizers, for an amount of 25 million euros (having to return only 20 million next year), Date of Expiry). But in April, there was more money for give investors who had lent in 2017 by subscribing to these financial products: 48 million of euros.
Covid changed plans
norththe report and the accounts, SAD admits that covid-19 changed plans. “Awhen paying the bond loan ‘yeshighlights SAD 2017-2020 ‘in April 2020, the sThe city intended to issue a new loan with some characteristics different from those it had issued in the past and always with the aim of reducing its exposure to the market. However, the effects of the pandemic associated with COVID-19-19, which in March and April 2020 ‘paralyzed’ the country and its economy, did not allow Benfica SAD to continue with its financing strategy ”, inscribe the document.
METEReven so, without “the slightest possibility of issuing a new bond loan ”, Benfica achieved “fulfill its commitments with the bondholders who had entrusted their investments in Benfica SAD, returning their 48.4 million euros ”. HE Tribuna Expresso, the authorized SAD source denies that the money loaned by Benfica has served in part to help pay this debt: “a The use of the line only depends on the short-term cash needs ”.
HE The truth is that, in this context of a pandemic, Benfica had to ask the bank for money, using this line of credit from the bank that Lone Star Americans have, increased exposure to the financial sector, which has been decreasing in recent years (also because many banks wanted, or were forced, to turn off the football tap). Benfica has credit from CGD and Montepio, but in much smaller amounts (1.2 and 5.9 million, respectively).
Sin July Benfica managed to overcome the cash flow situation and issued a new bond issue, obtaining 50 million in loan from supporters and investors who subscribed to the financial product.
HE Benfica does not disclose the interest rate or the date on which you have to return this money borrowed by Novo Banco – who was a shareholder of SAD until 2017, when he sold his position to Luís Filipe Vieira’s partner, José António dos Santos, known as king of chickens. This money appears under the heading of current loans, which normally has a term of less than 12 months. The same official Benfica source says that “no new bank financing is expected ” to be able to refund the amount.
Other struggling DSS
A SAD directed by Luís Filipe Vieira He was not the only one who suffered the impact of Covid-19 on the treasury. The FCP had to postpone the repayment of a 35 million euro bond issue for a year, leaving 70 million to repay in 2021.
northNext year, the three main SAD will have 116 million euros to pay off next year: Benfica’s is 20 million euros, while Sporting SAD, which had to resort to simplified dismissal (saving 3 million euros, practically the cost you had to pay for the termination former coach Mihajlovic), it also has another 26 million unpaid.
All this in a scenario of uncertainty, in which loss of income is the central scenario, there are no fans in the stadiums and no ticket revenue. Last season, Benfica’s SAD made a profit of 42 million, while Sporting’s made a net profit of 12.5 million.
