Racehorse trainer in property bailout

CHESHIRE racehorse owner Rob Lloyd is planning to lend his own property business £750,000 to save it from collapse.

But the businessman has set tough financial conditions which the Eatonfield Group is now urging its shareholders to accept. 

Last week Eatonfield, based in Mold, Flintshire, said it was cutting costs by 25% as it faced up to difficult conditions in the banking and property markets.

The group, which specialises in developments in North Wales and northern England, had failed in its bid to increase its £4.2m borrowing against a former Corus Rail site in Workington, Cumbria.

Now the group is seeking shareholder approval for a plan which will see chief executive Rob Lloyd lend £750,000 from his racehorse business Rob Lloyd Racing.

In return he will earn interest of 1.25% a month and receive a profit share on the Workington development and another in Scotland. He will also be paid £95,000 for guaranteeing the group’s £1m extended overdraft.

The profit share deal will give Mr Lloyd 50% of any increase in the value of the Workington site above £6m, and the same cut in uplift on the site in Scotland above £2.7m.

The company said the sites were independently valued in June at £13.25m and £6.1m respectively. Any payment would be capped at £10m. A sale at these prices would give Mr Lloyd £5.3m, minus tax and expenses.

In a statement the group said: “As a property company dependent upon bank debt, as well as equity, to finance its projects, Eatonfield has not been immune from the effects of an increasingly harsh operating environment.”

It added: “The company has taken extensive steps, with the assistance of various advisors, to attempt to secure funding of at least £750,000 from other third party sources on terms which are more favourable to the company than those offered under the RL[Rob Lloyd] Loan Agreement.”

The group is recommending shareholders approve the plan and warns it will, “face an uncertain future and may be unable to continue to trade” if the deal does not go ahead.

Eatonfield said it would consider a share offer if it failed to secure the loan. 

Rob Lloyd founded AIM-listed Eatonfield in 1998 after running Manchester-based developer UK Land.