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Ukio Bankas withstands credit crunch to post £20m profit

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Published Date: 12 November 2008
By Darren Johnstone
FEARS over the effect the global economic crisis is having on Vladimir Romanov's financing of Hearts have been allayed after his bank posted profits in their latest results.
For the first nine months of 2008, Ukio Bankas Group have recorded unaudited gains of LTL 83.8 million (£20 million), a 36 per cent increase on the same period last year.

Ukio Bankas, who are Hearts' shirt sponsors, have, however, not been immune
to the world-wide credit crunch after rating agency Standard & Poor downgraded the bank's status from stable to negative in August.

Commenting on the latest figures, Ukio Bankas Board chairwoman Edita Karpaviciene said: "We are happy with good financial results of Ukio Bankas Group.

"Growth of the Group's profit was influenced by the sales of subsidiaries that managed a real estate project in Moscow.

"But even if not considering the influence of this transaction, Ukio Bankas Group's profit from the continuing operations grew 15 per cent during nine months of 2008 compared to the same period of the last year and amounted to LTL 68.9 million."

Meanwhile, FBK Kaunas, the Lithuanian club which is also owned by Romanov, has lost out on the league title for the first time since 2005 after being beaten to the flag by FK Ekranas.

FBK, who caused a major upset when they overcame Rangers at the Champions League qualifying stage in August, cannot finish better than second with two games left in the Lithuanian league season.

Kaunas have dominated the Lithuanian top-flight since 1999, surrendering the league crown in only 2005 – also to FK Ekranas – prior to this year's disappointment.





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  • Last Updated: 11 November 2008 10:02 PM
  • Source: The Scotsman
  • Location: Edinburgh
  • Related Topics: Heart of Midlothian FC
 
1

Anglo Jambo,

Chorley 12/11/2008 07:22:51
20 million wouldn't buy half of Ronaldo, plus probably cost about another 8 million in wages over five years. Where is the sanity gone in football. Neither would it wipe off Hearts debts.
2

GeorgeCowieOrWalterKidd?,

12/11/2008 08:06:17
B-b-b-b-but, a Hibs fan's brother's mum's dad who's a friend of a policeman who knows a lawyer who has a cousin who's a cleaner at Tynecastle has it ON GOOD AUTHPORITY that we're going into administration on Thursday at 2:23pm!!!
3

GeorgeCowieOrWalterKidd?,

12/11/2008 08:26:30
#3 Right on cue...
4

GeorgeCowieOrWalterKidd?,

12/11/2008 08:52:58
#5 Ah you Hibees are so predictable - you never disappoint.

Most Hearts fans are resigned to either continuing like this for a bit, thing improving or diving down a few divisions and starting afresh. Whatever you believe will happen really depends on your loyalties. We've been told to expect "grim news" for about 3 years now - ever heard the story of the boy who cried wolf? I expect we'll be selling a couple of players, which makes sense if our financial situation demands that.
5

the west end general,

12/11/2008 08:57:15
#5
not trying to be cheeky here but honestly no ex player,respected or not,knows diddly about whats happening at Hearts .. only 1 man does !
6

petegeneva,

geneva 12/11/2008 09:16:28
#3 #5
Mibo, I'm a hibby and I'm cringeing for you.
If you can't back up your statement with anything other than "believe what you want", then you've already lost the argument.
If we say it often enough that HFC are going into administration that doesn't really make it any more likely.
Just my opinion, like.
7

Who?,

12/11/2008 09:18:18
#7- totally correct, only a few people really know and only one man knows for sure what the parent companies intentions for hearts are for the comming year.

I use to work for hbos but i don't know what their future plans are so i doubt any former employees of the club (player, tea lady or ticket seller) would really know either.

Uninformed speculation is the hibees friend.
8

Addie,

12/11/2008 09:22:05
#9 Mido, could I ask if this particular player has any influence on the clubs financial matters or for any other reason at the moment or is he speculating?
9

petegeneva,

geneva 12/11/2008 09:22:47
#10
ooooh freudian slip - I of course meant HOMFC and not HFC. Although one is just as likely as the other IMHO. i.e. not very.
10

huggs,

12/11/2008 09:25:20
I know very well one of hearts longest serving players who is still very much in touch, talked to him yesterday and he does not have a clue about anything happening in January
Agree with #7 only one man does and he plays things close to his chest so anything an ex player says will be taken with a pinch of salt
11

Jambo-ree,

12/11/2008 09:27:14
Edges getting blurred a wee bit here again. Headline leads us to believe that Ukio Bankas ("who are Hearts' shirt sponsors") are doing OK whereas in fact it is Ukio Bankas Group (i.e. UBIG) that is really being talked about.

However enough that they have manage to make some kind of profit when the mighty RBS returned a loss. Kind of puts things into perspective, eh?

Cue Hobonomic experts - Tommytommy, wherefore art thou Tommy?
12

Jambo-ree,

12/11/2008 09:29:14
BTW, what has happened to the cooncil's decision on planning permission for the new development? Thought it was expected in October and here we are nearly halfway through November.
13

John McCain's Frozen Chips,

Glasgow 12/11/2008 09:35:50
Another great piece of incisive reporting from the Scotsman there; reprinting a Ukio press release about "unaudited" profits.
Meanwhile, in the real world, investors in Lithuania have started a major run on Ukio, which will be lucky to last the week.
It's already had to release a statement in the local press confirming it can meet its debts, yet its shares have plunged in value by more than 20 per cent in the last 36 hours . . . and are still falling. Fast.
The company's capitalisation is down by about 70 per cent over the past 12 months.
Them's the facts. Make of them what you will.
14

petegeneva,

geneva 12/11/2008 09:37:23
#16 I am no hobonomic expert but my gut feeling is that HOMFC will offload / buyout the high earners during the JTW. This will mean you have to rely more on local youth players and of course the usual contingent of loan players from Kaunas. All of the above might actually be a positive step, and the way the SPL is at the moment I see no reason why you couldn't finish in the top 4 and claim a UEFA spot. Which will sort of put you back where you were before Vlad got involved. Which leads me to ask (and I expect no answer) WTF was Vlad's plan all along?
15

scorchio,

West of the Pecos 12/11/2008 09:41:01
Such is the ongoing volitility in finacial sectors, that this "news" means diddly squat. The whole picture could change overnight.
Lets just concentrate on trying to get a goal from one of our forwards...right now that would be earth shattering news!
16

Jambo-ree,

12/11/2008 09:57:53
#19 The question with no obvious answer - and don't think us Jambos never ask ourselves that. Why take over a business that's £20m+ in debt and then try to screw it further? Just no business sense in it at all (can you in fact 'asset strip' a company with that much debt?).

Same as spending millions on drawing up plans for redevelopment. Why spend that if there's no intention of following through? Just what is his game plan? An enigma wrapped in a conundrum - that's our Vlad.
17

scorchio,

West of the Pecos 12/11/2008 10:30:23
I think we would win any league if it were decided upon the time out from injuries, the current squads had.
Championees Championees Away Away Away!!!!!!
18

petegeneva,

geneva 12/11/2008 10:38:20
#22 well OK all clubs get injuries, but Hertz seem to have an uncanny knack of either signing a player who is injured from day one, or of signing a player who gets injured in the early days and then stays injured for months. Used to be the Hhunz that did that but you've taken that over from them recently. Wouldn't like to count up how much that has cost you over the past 3 seasons. Mind you, we had Boozy and Killen in the past, also a wee bit inflicted with Gorgie Sick Syndrome perhaps.
19

petegeneva,

geneva 12/11/2008 10:39:42
by the way in the message above I was not allowed to spell the word aitch you enn zed. How strange is that?
20

petegeneva,

geneva 12/11/2008 10:42:25
#24 you're being serious? "best group of young players i have seen at tynecastle in 40 years."
Well I'm not able to comment on that but I suspect a few will do so once their collective trousers have dried.
21

Leithjambo,

12/11/2008 10:59:50
#3
Actually hes right.
Apparently the problem with Ukio's finances is that theyre present profit margins are a direct result of the offloading of sub-prime bond mortage products in the Eastern European industrial capital banking sector.
The 'respected ex player' also told me that these margins would remain unsustainable in the coming six months as the effect of western capital shifting out of the Eastern European banking sector causes greater fluctuations in the value of sub-prime industrial capital. Apparently Ukio are particularly vulnerable to this as thier capital investments in the Baltic steel industries have taken a battering as foreign investments and orders have literally dried up.
If you dont believe me ask Stevie Fulton.
22

petegeneva,

geneva 12/11/2008 11:19:23
#27 you're half right with your guess.
23

petegeneva,

geneva 12/11/2008 11:22:41
Ahh Stevie Fulton. I'll never forget that time he got booked and the chants of "Booked for being financially-savvy"...
24

Jambo83,

West Lothian 12/11/2008 11:55:24
Mibo: "you might end up with egg on your face with comments like that"

What, you mean like all the Hibs and varous other fans who've been telling us for years that you'll be in administration by next week/month/year/insert mythical date here?

Don't you think they have egg on their face?

Serious question so I hope you take the time to reply.
25

petegeneva,

geneva 12/11/2008 12:02:22
#34 you mean the U19 league I guess?
Another source would be the Scotland National squads like U21 U20 U19 etc, where I don't see Hearts (or Hibs for that matter) contributing much better than any other SPL club. Unlike a couple of years ago where we seemed to have 3 or 4 per squad...
I do admit however that your excellent U19 players might be non-Scots so my above argument is weakened by that. [And for the record I have no problem with clubs having foreign U19 players on their books although I'm not convinced it makes sense financially].

26

Weel Kent Jambo,

12/11/2008 12:10:48
#37 - I thought that Deeks WAS the final piece in Mixu's jigsaw?
27

petegeneva,

geneva 12/11/2008 14:21:53
#39 thanks for that summary of your U19 and youth squads. I guess Hibs must be doing something right too since we're heading that league at the moment. (Cue November slump....) And I see we've yet to play Hearts.
28

GeorgeCowieOrWalterKidd?,

13/11/2008 09:45:46
Amazing that Hibs fans still prefer to discuss the finances of a Lithuanian bank rather than face the shortcomings of their own team.

Note to Hibs.netters saying Hearts are about to go belly up (again) because they think Ukio are about to go belly up (again). Ukio don't own Hearts; UBIG owns Hearts. So if the bank has to call in the Hearts debt, they don't come to Tynecastle asking for it, they go to UBIG.

As Romanov is both Chairman of UBIG and the largest shareholder of Ukio, that would be an interesting meeting. Sure, maybe HE'D decide to shut Hearts down - but good luck getting anywhere near 20m from the sale of the ground in today's market and a firesale of players. More likely, like a desperate house seller, he'd cling on or give in and sell at a knock-down price. Should we be forced into administration by a creditor here - same thing. Administrators will most likely look for a buyer at a knockdown price.

 

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