The club have restructured some of the debt
Hull City chairman Acun Ilicali at the MKM Stadium (Image: Mark Cosgrove/News Images)
Hull City’s financial position has been improved after the Championship club’s ownership group converted almost £24m of shareholder loans into equity.
It’s the second time this season the club have seen loans converted into equity, after around £15m was converted back in September, and the latest agreement comes on the back of Acun Ilicali celebrating his four-year anniversary as owner late last month.
In converting the loans into shares, it reduces the overall debt owed to the club’s owner, and means City, who sit third in the Championship, find themselves with a healthier balance sheet moving forward.
The Tigers are four points off the top spot in the Championship and have a nine-point cushion to the chasing play-off pack after a stunning season under Sergej Jakirovic, despite being forced to work under strict transfer restrictions imposed on them by the EFL back in the summer.
City posted their latest set of accounts before Christmas, posting a pre-tax loss of £10.2m for the 2024/25 campaign, with £41.7m owed to the club’s owner at that stage, but that figure has since been reduced with the conversion of a significant proportion of those loans.
LISTEN: Acun Ilicali talks the January transfer window and the race for promotion to the Premier League
Speaking to Hull Live immediately after the accounts were published, Ilicali said: “The story is like this: If you want to fight for the play-offs, you have to spend money. It’s too simple.
“I think that I have spent almost £100m until now, and I feel very happy about it because we have a strong team. I want our fans to be on the same page with us that we spend this money to fight for success, and now we are in the limit zone. At the moment, we have a high wage bill.
“The team is supported by me, and as you saw three months ago, we just put some money into the club, and we will continue to do that.
“There is no danger that the club has some loans because these loans are not with banks. These loans are to us, to me, and I love this club. I’m happy to spend it, but of course, we have to keep the balance, so we will reduce some spending.
“I knew that I had to spend money, and I came here to spend money for this beautiful team and to make these beautiful people happy, so I’m very OK to spend money, as I always have been and this will continue.”
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