West Ham value rockets following stadium boost
WEST HAM’S value has doubled following its successful bid to move into the Olympic Stadium after the London 2012 Games, according to analysts, and could earn owners David Gold and David Sullivan a joint profit of £120m.
The Premier League club was worth just £100m a year ago but its success in securing the 60,000-seater arena for a fraction of the £530m construction cost is estimated to have doubled the side’s value overnight.
Once the Hammers have completed their move, which is due to take place in 2014, and is enjoying increased revenues from corporate tickets and the sale of naming rights, it is predicted the club will be worth around £300m.
“Obviously the value has increased overnight, the minute they got the stadium,” Stan Lock, an analyst at brokers Brewin Dolphin, told City A.M.
“I’d say now [it’s worth] £200m without anything happening. And then once it’s all complete, the corporate areas are in, it must be £300m.”
Gold and Sullivan together own 61 per cent of the East End outfit, which they bought last year in deals that priced the club at around £100m. An increase in its value to £300m would see the combined worth of their stake rocket from £60m to £180m.
The estimate relies on West Ham avoiding relegation, and on the government and Mayor of London rubber-stamping their move to the stadium.