At least two SM league clubs are struggling with bills. However, there should be no threat of bankruptcy.
The ice hockey championship league club Lahti Pelicans is in a cash crisis.
On November 13, Lahten Pelicans oy had open payment delays for more than 26,000 euros. The situation means that Pelicans does not have enough money in the account to pay the bills, but the due dates have come and the creditors have gone to collect their receivables through debt collection companies.
Iltalehti’s investigation reveals that Pelicans has more than 19,000 euros in statutory pension insurance premiums in arrears. A good 6,400 euros must be paid to the auditor and 575 euros for laundry services.
The due date for the employment pension insurance premiums was February 2023.
When the information from two different debt collection companies is combined, Pelicans has paid almost 90,000 euros late in the summer and autumn for invoices. Payment delays have been in the order of a month in many cases, but in August, Pelicans paid more than 20,000 euros in occupational pension insurance premiums 138 days late.
In September, the club paid nearly 40,000 euros in pension insurance premiums more than 110 days late.
The domino effect
The Pelicans machine coughs in the rink and in the club’s office. Tomi Natri / AOP
The information is surprising in that the result of the Pelicans’ fiscal year was a profit of 110,000 euros in the 2022–23 season. In the season before that, more than 600,000 euros was accumulated.
Of course, at the end of April, the balance sheet’s cash and bank receivables only showed a fair 10,000 euros.
Pelicans CEO Lauri Pöyhönen says that the payment delays are caused by a situation where Pelicans itself has not received what it owes from customers.
– We have had to wait for some payments from customers, quite large ones. After receiving them, we have received the money in the cash register that should have been there, says Pöyhönen.
According to Pöyhönen, the cash situation at the moment is “just fine”. According to the CEO, all salaries have been paid, there is no threat of bankruptcy and there should even be the ability to react in the middle of the season, if new, compelling recruitments should be made.
– Our balance sheet is in good shape. Cash management is challenging. For a long time, doing this has included a certain kind of cyclicality. However, things have been moved forward.
– The economic situation in society is that there are challenges in quite a few industries. It can also be seen in our checkout.
The Pelicans have started the SM league season with a bang. The team placed in the top bracket has collected 24 points from 20 matches, which means the third worst point average in the entire series. Only HPK and SaiPa are behind.
The Pelicans are another league club that has drifted into a cash crisis. At the moment, there are a good 24,000 euros in open payment delays at SaiPa.