When the club was made into a PLC it ended up with 145 million shares.
This was reduced by 16m in 2003 ago when the club decided to buy that amount back from the Hall family for £4.5m. Normally the only way to sell shares is on the general stock market. It was unusual for a company to only offer to buy shares back from a single shareholder. This deal was announced at the same time as the club only being able to afford to bring in Lee Bowyer on a free transfer. The club than gave the Halls a further £1m worth of shares as a dividend in 2005.
Since 1998 the Hall family have taken out just over £12.6m in cash dividends from the club, plus the £4.5m for the sale of some shares, plus the further £1m worth of shares. So roughly £18.2m had gone to Douglas and Sir John Hall. The Halls now own around 53m shares, or 41% of the club.
In the most recently published corporate results for Cameron Hall the shares they own are listed as having cost them 11p each to purchase. NUFC has given them 21p back in dividends for each 11p they invested. The Halls will also expect to get around 70p share if they ever sell to a new investor. A likely total return on their initial investment of 80p per share, or £40m profit for their £6m investment.
The other major shareholders are the Shepherds. This mainly means Freddy but also includes his brother Bruce who owns shares. As of January 2006 the Shepherd clan own 37m shares, or just over 28% of the club. The Shepherds have been busy buying shares over the last few years, having only owned 11m back in 1999. The amount of money taken out of the club by the Shepherds is just over £5m. This includes nearly £1m during a time when the club did not spend any money on players. The chairman of any company is duty bound to protect shareholder interests.
The other major shareholders would seem to be Legal & General and a someone called "L Hatton".
They owned about 5 million shares each back in 2000 and there seems to be nothing in the accounts to show that they have sold up.
This means these people and organisations have taken about £1m out of our club since 1998.
Earlier we calculated that fans have put in over £246m for the pleasure of seeing their side. Out of that £246m the Halls and Shepherds have taken out around £23.6m in dividends or by selling shares to the club.
In the annual results for 2005-2006 the club, for the first time since becoming a PLC, no dividend of any sort was declared. This may be because of the loss of £12m announced in the results for the period, but may also be a change in policy. In 2000 the club lost £15m but still gave away dividends of £4m. This would suggest that the change this time is a policy decision rather than a one forced on the board by financial results. The outcome of this is that the club has £4m more than would have been expected if the previous policy had been maintained.
Note: These figures do NOT include any salary paid by NUFC to any member of the Hall or Shepherd family
The graph below compares the profit made by the shareholders of the club with the loss made by the people running the club. The shareholder benefit includes dividends and shares sold to the club.
The amount given to shareholders could have been spent in a number of ways. It could have been spent on replacing Alan Shearer, it could have been spent on bringing in top class defensive coaches, iit could have reduced the annual season ticket price by roughly £80, or it could have been spent in helping to pay off the mortgage on the ground development.
If it had been used to reduce season ticket prices then a supporter who had had a season ticket for the last 9 years would be around £700 better off.
If it had been used to pay off the ground then the club would now owe nothing at all on the ground, rather than having to continue pay for it over the next ten years.
The board of NUFC looked at all the possible options and decided that their top priority was to give the money away to shareholders.