Celtic Bookmakers Gone Bust

Was on the cards,rumoured to be 6 million clams in the hole.

http://www.rte.ie/news/2011/0104/celtic-business.html

 

Celtic Bookmakers, the independent chain owned by broadcaster and former Fine Gael minister Ivan Yates and his wife Deirdre, has gone into receivership.

Established in Wexford in 1987, the bookmaking group employs 237 people.

A statement from the directors confirmed they had invited AIB to appoint a receiver to the company. Neil Hughes of Hughes Blake Accountants has been appointed.

The directors said that while there would be “inevitable significant job losses”, they would try and retain as many of the 237 jobs as possible throughout the 47 betting shops in Ireland.

Revenue at Celtic Bookmakers fell by an “unsustainable” 50 per cent since mid-2007, having previously achieved an annual income of €180 million and an operating profit of €4 million, the directors said in their statement.

Since then, it has reduced its cost base from €17 million to less than €12 million, including the closure of 12 loss-making shops.

Conditions in 2010 continued to deteriorate and prevented the company from securing a suitable merger, refinancing or restructuring despite "many months" of effort.

“Today is a profoundly sad day for our employees, for our families and for ourselves,” Mr Yates said.

“I take this opportunity to express our deep appreciation to all of our wonderful staff, managers, great customers, landlords and suppliers for their support and loyalty over the past 23 years. Like many, we did not anticipate the rapid decline in the economy, but I acknowledge that the accelerated growth of the business placed the company in a difficult position given the extent of the recession.”

The directors said any employees made redundant would get their full statutory entitlement. They said they had supported the company from their personal resources and had outstanding unpaid loans to it. They had kept their salaries to an "absolute minimum" and had not drawn any remuneration for the past three years.

"There have been no rash decisions, diversifications or investments that have contributed to the current difficulties," the statement said.

Celtic expanded rapidly in earlier years, acquiring a number of smaller bookmakers’ stores to add to its portfolio. But more recently it had concentrated on cost reduction. It cut job numbers to 237 from 256 in the course of 2009.

The directors said at that time they were confident the company would return to profitability in future years.

In 2005, the company had a turnover of about €105 million and Mr Yates estimated the following year that it was growing at about 20 per cent per annum.

During its rapid expansion, it opened outlets in places such as Swansea, Bristol and Wales. In 2006, Celtic spent an estimated €5 million on the purchase of Dublin-based Joe Molloy Bookmakers to add a further 10 stores to the chain.

The company’s website appeared to have been taken down this morning.

Mr Yates (50) spent over 20 years as TD for Wexford and served on Fine Gael front bench for more than 12 years. He was minister for agriculture from 1994 to 1997, a period that included the BSE crisis.

He announced in 2001 that he would retire from politics in order to concentrate on his family and business interests.

Mr Yates left school at the age of 16 and joined Fine Gael at 17, going on to give his entire adult life to politics.

Speaking to The Irish Times in February 2001 following his decision to withdraw from political life, Mr Yates said his late father, John F. Yates, had not approved of his choice.

“I come from a Protestant background and my family would have been distrustful of politics, they would have felt it was a dubious profession. But to be truthful they feel equally dubious about bookmaking. I can't win,” he said.

Mr Yates said in his statement he would continue with his other non-bookmaking commitments as the affairs of Celtic Bookmakers are concluded. He said he would resume his broadcasting role with Newstalk radio next Monday.

http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/breaking/2011/0104/breaking31.html

 

Just heard him being interviewed on RTE radio there. Sounds fooked, but could ya trust him

 

Heard him on newstalk and he was saying one of the main things that killing the business is that they have to pay 2 1/2 years rent to get out of the leases of he shops that they have closed

Also mentioned that all creditors have been paid up until December and that all bets will continued to be honoured

He has lots of personal guarantees including his own house and his mothers

 

Never a bookie i was a fan of.

did a bet some years back on tyrone to win the ulster,
the tryed to challange the bet,saying i did not put down football or hurling

 

Thats Shocking!!
So the poor man only has his Newstalk Salary and his Ministers pension to fall back on!?

Its the 200 odd people who are soon to be out of a job, that I feel sorry for!

 

Ye what was he playing at giving 250 people jobs in the 1st place.

 

One of my mates lost his job but luckily enough he got a job at ladbrokes.

 

Couple of these in Wexford, and a few weeks ago i think i read in the local rag that he closed the one down in enniscorthy.The one in wexford Town is surrounded by competiton though, with a new Paddypowers across the round from it, and another Bookies down the road from it..

 

I kinda like him though he seems genuine enough. His program on Newstalk is a favorite of mine.

 

Heard Ivan Yates on Matt Copper this evening, he came across brilliantly. Sounds like he willl be rightly screwed, looks like a case of a good man throwing good money after bad and he will pay the price.

Total respect for actually facing up to his responsabilites and not running off like most business men in this country seem to do.

 

A sad day for both the Yates family and their staff ... no one wants to see further companies close and jobs lost.

 

Yeah I heard it too. Thought he came across well. Unfortunately having a conscience and being a good business man very rarely go hand in hand.