Council agrees to Durham rescue plan

Financially-stricken Durham have secured a financial rescue package from Durham County Council which will further help to secure the future of professional cricket in England’s most northerly outpost.

Durham County Council has agreed to convert loans of £3.74m into shares, so freeing the county from interest payments on long-standing debts.

Under the ECB-brokered settlement, Durham County Council has agreed to convert its debts into redeemable preference shares. The ECB has restructured Durham as a community interest company, which enables it to distribute up to 35% of profits – should they become available – to shareholders.

The council has received interest payments of around £700,000 on their loans since 2009 – variously charging 4.7% and 7% annually on the loans. The council’s own calculations state that with interest rates at record lows they would only have made £140,000 interest in the same period by conventional investments.

The agreement follows the ECB’s own £3.8m rescue package, which included writing off nearly £2m of its own loans to the county.

The bail-out came with punitive measures: the sacking of the Durham board, relegation from Division One of the Championship and penalty points in all three competitions at the start of next season.

But Durham can stage ODIs and T20Is and it is here. combined with stringent cost cutting and a growth in their mediocre T20 attendances, where it is hoped future profitability lies.

The terms of the ECB rescue package were enforced by the ECB after Durham’s long-standing failures to attract investment into the club brought their financial problems to a head this year. Payments …

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