The Annual General Meeting of QPR Holdings Ltd took place on Friday 15 June in the Blue and White Club at Loftus Road. The formal business was followed, as usual, by a Question and Answer session with the first team manager.  

Board members and club spokesmen sat at the top table and a large number of shareholders were in the audience. This arrangement meant that adequate microphones were needed. In previous years each person at the top table has had their own fixed microphone, with a roving mic being passed amongst shareholders who want to ask questions. This year there was one microphone for the whole room and the quality of sound was so poor that most shareholders missed some of what was being said.

Swan song?

Apart from John Gregory the club was represented by the following individuals: 

 - Kevin Steele (Non Executive Director of QPR FC)
 - Nicholas De Marco (Non Executive Director of QPR FC)
 - Antonio Caliendo (Chairman of QPR Holdings Ltd)
 - Gianni Paladini (Director of QPR Holdings Ltd)
 - Akin Yilmaz (Company Secretary)
 - Mark Cook (Financial Controller) 

The third board member of QPR Holdings Ltd, Franco Zanotti, was missing, as was Olga Paladini, a director of QPR FC. QPR Life Vice President Harold Winton was on the top table last year but in the front row of the audience this year. 

Shareholders approved the four resolutions that had been notified to them in advance:

• to adopt the altered accounts for the year ending May 2005
• to adopt the accounts for the year ending May 2006
• to re-appoint Antonio Caliendo as a director of the company
• to re-appoint Shipleys LLP as the company's auditors

For the record, club representatives made the following claims during the course of the meeting: 

• With reference to the annual accounts that were approved at last year’s AGM but were subsequently altered before being filed with Companies House, Akin Yilmaz siad he would send a copy of the altered accounts to any shareholder who wanted to see them.
   
• In the 2006 accounts, losses had increased from £2.5m to £3.3m and directors had put in loans of £2.6m.
   
• The Board is projecting losses of £2.6m for 2007, with no losses at all the following year 2008.
   
• The taxman has applied for a winding-up order for non-payment of VAT and the club will be making a payment next week.
   
• The club owes a sum in the region of £650k to Harold Winton. Akin Yilmaz agreed to make details of all monies owed to or from the Wintons available to shareholders at or before the next AGM.
   
• The sell-on fee for Danny Shittu is 10% on £1.85m.
   
• Dean Parrett was sold to Spurs for £1m with a 25% sell-on clause.
   
• Caliendo and Paladini are willing to sell their shares for 6.5p.
   
• Bill Power may be seeking to invest in the club.
   
• One of the reasons why financial institutions will not refinance the ABC loan is that there is a covenant on the Loftus Road ground that means they could not redevelop the site.
   
• The ABC loan interest rate will go up to 11.59% but the Board is confident of negotiating the rate down to 11.50%. They are also trying to negotiate a clause in the contract that says that they can end the ABC loan before the 10 year term is up if a better loan is available. The Board is looking to see if not having an early repayment option is legal. With shareholders continuing to express concern about this issue, Kevin Steele said there had been no discussions about what would happen if the ABC loan could not be repaid, and emphasised that the loan rate would go up to 11.59% and that the loan is not repayable early.
   
• A shareholder asked if there had been any further directors’ loans since the accounts. Paladini responded that £6.8m had been put in, but didn’t make it clear whether this meant further loans or the total.
   
• Paladini claimed he has put much more than £650K into the club. He said he has put in more money as loans, and has sold three of his five houses.
   
• Deloitte and Touche were paid £40k for a complete review of the club’s financial systems.
   
• Paul Parker has been appointed temporary Commercial and Communications Director to stop Paladini from, in Paladini’s own words, “making a cock-up with the press”.
   
• Franco Zanotti was not interested in attending today’s meeting and is not interested in taking over the ABC loan.

It seems unlikely that Paladini will survive another year until the next AGM. The club is losing money hand over fist and has only been able to carry on recently with the help of directors’ loans. But Paladini has no money of his own to stem the losses, Zanotti has lost interest in the club, and Caliendo is reported to be in poor health and looking to offload his shares.