Losses slashed at American Golf’s parent

THE major refinancing last year at AGDC Holdings, parent company of North West retailer American Golf, allowed it to cut losses to £1.5m from more than £5m in 2010, it has emerged.

The Warrington-based group – owned by private equity investor LDC, Royal Bank of Scotland and its management team – is currently in the throes of being sold by NM Rothschild.

The financial restructuring in January 2010 saw LDC inject £5m into the business, write off loans worth around £6.8m, while Royal Bank of Scotland swapped mezzanine loans worth £7.5m for a 29.5% stake.

This allowed the business – the country’s largest golf retailer which more than 60 shops-  to open new stores and acquire online golf specialist SW Golf for £3.5m in March 2010.

Newly-filed accounts for AGDC Holdings for the year to the end of January show the acquisition of SW Golf, which trades as Online Golf added £10.5m to group sales, which rose from £72.3m to £86.6m.

Ebitda rose from £3.5m to £4.9m, while interest payments following the refinancing halved from £4m to £2m, despite borrowings rising from £21m to £23.2m in the year.

New store openings and the acquisition took staff numbers up to 664.