New companies house filings reveal more about NUFC takeover and Mike Ashley's intentions

MASH HOLDINGS LIMITED (MASH), Mike Ashley's private investment vehicle, has just filed its "group of companies' accounts" made up to Wednesday, 26th April 2022 on Companies House.

These accounts reveal precisely how much Ashley made on the sale of Newcastle United Football Club to the consortium comprised of PIF, RB Sports & Media, and PCP Capital Partners in October 2021: £195.7 million.

That figure reflects the £305 million the consortium paid for the club, minus the £1.5 million Ashley paid in legal fees and the £107.8 million MASH held in net assets.

The main point of interest here, however, as noted by Greg Cordell on Twitter, is that the £305 million sale price included a full repayment of the "long-term, interest-free loan" Ashley had given to the football club. Some reporting around the time of the takeover, most notably from The Athletic, had suggested the loan was to be repaid in addition to the £305 million, not as part of the total sale price.

MASH didn't directly own Newcastle United, though, a subsidiary of MASH called ST JAMES HOLDINGS LIMITED (SJH) did. Its "full accounts" made up to Friday, 30th June 2022 have also just been filed on Companies House and show that its gain on the sale of Newcastle United was £77 million.

Even more interestingly, though, is that SJH still had £102.6 million in cash on its balance sheet in June 2022, which was set to reduce to £71.5 million by June 2023 (last month).

SJH's previous annual accounts filing for the year ending Wednesday, 30th June 2021 noted that "the Director (Ashley) plans to utilise the company as an investment holding company for future projects". Alan Pardew also recently said he thinks "Mike (Ashley) is on the verge of doing something again in football", so is this capital sitting there waiting to be used in a takeover of another British football club? Let's hope not.

We might be getting five from two-plus-two anyhow, and only time will tell, but the talk about Ashley returning to football has definitely kicked up a gear recently...