BOOKMAKER, BROADCASTER and former minister Ivan Yates has conceded he may face financial ruin after Celtic Bookmakers, the betting chain he owns with his wife Deirdre, was placed in receivership, owing €6 million to AIB.
Neil Hughes of accountants Hughes Blake was appointed as receiver by AIB yesterday and will seek to sell the bookmaker’s 47 shops in Ireland as a going concern in a bid to retain as many of the 237 jobs as possible. Any sum raised will be used to offset the bank debt and pay preferential creditors.
“Once the receiver has finished his work, there will remain a residual debt [with AIB],” Mr Yates said yesterday. “I’ll have to sit down with the bank and work that out.”
Mr Yates has given a personal guarantee to AIB for the company’s €6 million borrowings and has also provided about €200,000 in loans to the bookmaker.
Mr Yates said he was “fearful” of losing his home in Enniscorthy. It has been home to four generations of Yates and comprises 160 acres, the family home and a bungalow built for his elderly mother.
Mr Yates conceded he could face bankruptcy, with the possibility that some creditors could seek judgments against him.
“I could face bankruptcy I dont know yet, that’s a matter for the mercy of my creditors really.”
Mr Yates said about five of the 237 staff had worked with him since 1987 and he expressed regret about the uncertainty facing their jobs.
“It’s been deeply distressing and painful on the human side,” he said.
“A distinguishing factor of a family business is that there’s acute personal loyalty that goes both ways and every person counts. It has been a really harrowing 10 days for me and the darkest period of my life,” Mr Yates said.
His income comes mainly from media work, including his role as a presenter of a breakfast show on radio station Newstalk, and an Oireachtas pension from his 21 years as a Fine Gael TD for Wexford.
Mr Hughes stressed yesterday Celtic Bookmakers would continue to trade as normal during the receivership. AIB has provided the company with working capital to ensure that all bets will be honoured, he added.
Staff met the receiver at the Red Cow hotel complex in Dublin last night for a briefing on the company’s future.
The company’s shops closed early at 4.30pm to allow staff to attend the meeting.
Celtic Bookmakers was founded in 1987, with Mr Yates opening a shop in Tramore, Co Waterford.
Business began to wane in late 2007 as the economic downturn began to bite retailers. Celtic Bookmakers made a loss of €1.5 million in the year to July 2010.
Turnover had declined from €189.5 million in 2008 to €122 million last year as punters reined in their betting.