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Rediff.com  » Sports » Venky's profits soar, will Blackburn benefit?

Venky's profits soar, will Blackburn benefit?

November 09, 2010 18:06 IST
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They have been making the headlines on a regular basis in the last one month.

And it comes across as no surprise that Venky's has done so again.

The latest one is pertaining to its record profit.

The Pune-based company has announced its second quarter results and it puts the company's net profit at   14.3 crore.

It is without doubt positive news for the firm that is set to seal a 46 million pounds ($72.77 million) takeover of English Premier League club Blackburn Rovers.

Expectations (read speculations) are rife that the company will now invest more to revive the fortunes of the struggling Lancashire club.

However, if the Rovers fans believe the profits will translate into investments then they will be disappointed.

For the club had already made it clear late last month that there won't be additional investments made in the recruitment of new players.

"We won't need to buy expensive players, we can always lease them," Venky's chief Anuradha Desai had been quoted as saying.

The company has embarked on a   500 million-expansion plan while it also has debts to the tune of   600 million.

The company is expected to complete the takeover by the end of this month but has announced that it will only allocate a sum of five million pounds for new players, thereby ruling out the possibility of any big-name signings.

"We don't expect to be in the top five of the Premier League. We will be happy to be in the top 10-12," Desai said, adding that more funds could be made available at a later date.

"Our first priority is to get the club on a strong footing and back (competing) in the Premier League for which we might need to put in more money."

Blackburn is currently fifth from bottom in the Premier League, just two pints off the relegation zone, and coach Sam Allardyce has categorically said that the owners need to infuse fresh investment into the club.

"New investment is needed and we have not had it for a long time," Allardyce has been quoted as saying. It is a certainty that Blackburn, the Premier League champions in 1995 and one of the only four clubs to win the EPL in its current format, will struggle to compete in the long run in their current state, in the absence of investments that is.

However, whether rise in Venky's profits will ensure more investments in Blackburn remains to be seen.

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