King Power: A Tale of Rise and Ruin

[DezFox]

9 minutes ago, Claudio Fannieri said:

Will very much depend on the price, if KP /Top place an unrealistic valuation then we will not be an attractive proposition, however if they are sensible and realistic, then absolutely we will be an attractive proposition for investment / new ownership. 

If our ability to shift dead wood is considered here it will not be a reasonable price. 

[5waller5]

41 minutes ago, Ric Flair said:

That training ground needs flogging to Forest. It's not worth the hassle. 

How embarrassing that would be though

[Levi Port]

I really do think these articles have been wildly blown out of proportion, the CEO’s quotes are in relation to three regional airports… Even BBC RL didn’t pick up on this. It’s almost like they’ve not even read the article. 

 

They’re renegotiating those contracts as KP’s payments are based upon pre covid figures, they feel they’re too much. 

It’s a textbook article that takes a few quotes on one matter (three regional airports) and twists them to paint a doomsday picture about a far greater point ( King Powers monopoly and profitability on a international scale )

 

It’s entirely misleading 

 

Edited 24 June 2025 by Levi Port

[AjcW]

2 minutes ago, Levi Port said:

I really do think these articles have been wildly blown out of proportion, the CEO’s quotes on are in relation to three regional airports… Even BBC RL didn’t pick up on this. It’s almost like they’ve not even read the article. 

 

They’re renegotiating those contracts as KP’s payments are based upon pre covid figures. 

It’s a textbook article that takes a few quotes on one matter (three regional airports) and twists them to paint a doomsday picture about a far greater point ( King Powers monopoly and profitability on a international scale )

 

It’s entirely misleading 

 

Entirely a coincidence that Top flew home the same date, despite being scheduled to play in the biggest Polo tournament of the year today? 

[filbertway]

KPFC worshippers working overtime this week

[Levi Port]

1 minute ago, AjcW said:

Entirely a coincidence that Top flew home the same date, despite being scheduled to play in the biggest Polo tournament of the year today? 

We can only speculate nobody knows why to be fair. But this planned renegotiation will not have just been decided on the spots international organisations like KP don’t just suddenly decide to renegotiate on that day, fly top back and have talks. It could be anything. 

[Happy Fox]

Got to hope that the Americans will be interested, I think we have got enough Kudos to get some interest Stateside.

 

John Textor is reported to be interested in owning a club in the championship (Sheffield Wednesday) the latest rumour.

 

We deserve better ownership than these clueless charlatans.

[Levi Port]

4 minutes ago, filbertway said:

KPFC worshippers working overtime this week

Top is evidently out of his depth running LCFC, but these articles are akin to taking financial forecasting advice from page 3 of the Sun. 

[Grebfromgrebland]

I'm not worried by all this news. The club isn't in terrible shape now and we probably just need a season or two of survival in the championship and not over spending and we'll like any other club. 

 

If in the meantime we can get a proper director of football in and replace some of the hierarchy within the club we might be able to look forward positively.

[filbertway]

3 minutes ago, Levi Port said:

Top is evidently out of his depth running LCFC, but these articles are akin to taking financial forecasting advice from page 3 of the Sun. 

Cheers, nearly spat my coffee out then  

 

That last part tickled me haha.

 

I think partially because I could definitely see Top and Rudkin at a meeting, each with a nudey mag slipped inside their binders containing the numbers and forecasts

 

[HankMarvin]

23 minutes ago, Levi Port said:

I really do think these articles have been wildly blown out of proportion, the CEO’s quotes are in relation to three regional airports… Even BBC RL didn’t pick up on this. It’s almost like they’ve not even read the article. 

 

They’re renegotiating those contracts as KP’s payments are based upon pre covid figures, they feel they’re too much. 

It’s a textbook article that takes a few quotes on one matter (three regional airports) and twists them to paint a doomsday picture about a far greater point ( King Powers monopoly and profitability on a international scale )

 

It’s entirely misleading 

 

Blown out of proportion?

they basically removed Top from his position and replaced him with someone that has 8 years experience of inside knowledge of AOT.

 

We're in a position where we're saying we can't manage, and we're asking AOT for help," Nitinai stated. "We'll listen. If the conditions allow us to remain profitable, we'll stay. If not, and we can't make it work together, we'll accept that.

 

Business operations differ significantly," he explained. "If it's an upward cycle, we can inject resources to address shortages. But if it's a downturn, it means removing ourselves from that industry entirely."

 

The stakes couldn't be higher. For King Power, AOT's response will determine whether this represents a temporary setback or the end of an era in Thai duty-free retail. 

[CosbehFox]

13 minutes ago, Happy Fox said:

Got to hope that the Americans will be interested, I think we have got enough Kudos to get some interest Stateside.

 

John Textor is reported to be interested in owning a club in the championship (Sheffield Wednesday) the latest rumour.

 

We deserve better ownership than these clueless charlatans.

Yeah I wouldn't have Textor has the sort of American you want. Take a look at Lyon 

[Levi Port]

1 minute ago, HankMarvin said:

Blown out of proportion?

they basically removed Top from his position and replaced him with someone that has 8 years experience of inside knowledge of AOT.

 

We're in a position where we're saying we can't manage, and we're asking AOT for help," Nitinai stated. "We'll listen. If the conditions allow us to remain profitable, we'll stay. If not, and we can't make it work together, we'll accept that.

 

Business operations differ significantly," he explained. "If it's an upward cycle, we can inject resources to address shortages. But if it's a downturn, it means removing ourselves from that industry entirely."

 

The stakes couldn't be higher. For King Power, AOT's response will determine whether this represents a temporary setback or the end of an era in Thai duty-free retail. 

All of those quotes are in relation to three regional airports, not the overall monopoly 

[HankMarvin]

Just now, Levi Port said:

All of those quotes are in relation to three regional airports, not the overall monopoly 

In relation to the business as a whole not being sustainable 

[Fox92]

16 minutes ago, Happy Fox said:

Got to hope that the Americans will be interested, I think we have got enough Kudos to get some interest Stateside.

 

John Textor is reported to be interested in owning a club in the championship (Sheffield Wednesday) the latest rumour.

 

We deserve better ownership than these clueless charlatans.

Not Americans 

[5waller5]

32 minutes ago, Levi Port said:

I really do think these articles have been wildly blown out of proportion, the CEO’s quotes are in relation to three regional airports… Even BBC RL didn’t pick up on this. It’s almost like they’ve not even read the article. 

 

They’re renegotiating those contracts as KP’s payments are based upon pre covid figures, they feel they’re too much. 

It’s a textbook article that takes a few quotes on one matter (three regional airports) and twists them to paint a doomsday picture about a far greater point ( King Powers monopoly and profitability on a international scale )

 

It’s entirely misleading 

 

It’s not entirely misleading at all.

 

KP’s business is almost entirely made up of duty free shops at Thai airports.
 

They’ve fallen behind on the rent for those shops, and are now in the position of renegotiating the rent for those shops or breaching their contract and walking away from them.

 

Their landlord (AOT) only makes a thin profit, and without KP’s rent makes a big loss, so room for negotiation is small, and probably not enough for both sides to make it work.

 

However, if they don’t have an alternative retailer lined up they may have to share the suffering with KP.

 

From KP’s perspective they will lose virtually all of their turnover without duty free. They’ll go from a $2bn (ish, and highly variable in recent years) to one of <$100m (I don’t know the turnover of their other businesses but they seem to be vanity hotels / teams / projects that are also largely loss making). 
 

KP are negotiating for the future of their business. Walking away is likely to lead to a loss of rent claim from AOT, so isn’t really an option without also going into liquidation (or whatever the equivalent process is in Thailand).

 

To say it’s been blown out of proportion is misleading. 

[Levi Port]

1 minute ago, HankMarvin said:

In relation to the business as a whole not being sustainable 

The ‘profitability’ he mentions, relates to the three regional airports, they’re losing money there. 
 

The ‘conditions’ is a renegotiation of the fee they pay for the monopoly in those three regional airports as the fee is based upon pre covid figures. They want this fee for the three airports lowered. 
 

‘removing ourselves entirely from the industry’ relates to ending the monopoly of the three regional airports if they can not have the fee they pay lowered. 

These quotes are not about the entire monopoly. 

[5waller5]

13 minutes ago, Grebfromgrebland said:

I'm not worried by all this news.

 

The club isn't in terrible shape now 

Our trajectory is steep decline.

We lose around £90m per season and are selling all our best players to keep the losses that low. 
 

Just how bad does it need to be for you to worry???

[HankMarvin]

21 minutes ago, Levi Port said:

The ‘profitability’ he mentions, relates to the three regional airports, they’re losing money there. 
 

The ‘conditions’ is a renegotiation of the fee they pay for the monopoly in those three regional airports as the fee is based upon pre covid figures. They want this fee for the three airports lowered. 
 

‘removing ourselves entirely from the industry’ relates to ending the monopoly of the three regional airports if they can not have the fee they pay lowered. 

These quotes are not about the entire monopoly. 

“If King Power's minimum guarantee payments are reduced, AOT faces significant revenue shortfalls that will ultimately impact Thailand's aviation infrastructure development.

 

Conversely, should negotiations fail and King Power terminate its contracts, AOT retains the right to call upon an 11 billion baht bank guarentee”

 

฿100m is equal to $3m

 

so you think is sustainable, to lose that arm of its business and be able to facilitate the bank guarantee should the negotiations fail?

Edited 24 June 2025 by HankMarvin

[Bazly]

It was Covid wot done it. Airport closures during travel bans were always going to his a duty free business hard. Unavoidable.

[5waller5]

10 minutes ago, Levi Port said:

The ‘profitability’ he mentions, relates to the three regional airports, they’re losing money there. 
 

The ‘conditions’ is a renegotiation of the fee they pay for the monopoly in those three regional airports as the fee is based upon pre covid figures. They want this fee for the three airports lowered. 
 

‘removing ourselves entirely from the industry’ relates to ending the monopoly of the three regional airports if they can not have the fee they pay lowered. 

These quotes are not about the entire monopoly. 

I agree that, at the moment, they’re looking at the non Bangkok airports for the negotiation. I’d suspect that to be a negotiation strategy and them tackling the thin end of the wedge first.

 

”Removing ourselves entirely from the industry” is very clear in its meaning. It definitely does not mean “we’ll close the smaller shops”
 

I’d read it as a threat, to AOT, as to what happens if negotiations fail, the unspoken “the shutters will go down on all duty free shops including Bangkok, which will bring you down too”

[HankMarvin]

5 minutes ago, 5waller5 said:

Removing ourselves entirely from the industry” is very clear in its meaning. It definitely does not mean “we’ll close the smaller shops”

Is that a typo 

[Sol thewall Bamba]

10 minutes ago, 5waller5 said:

I agree that, at the moment, they’re looking at the non Bangkok airports for the negotiation. I’d suspect that to be a negotiation strategy and them tackling the thin end of the wedge first.

 

”Removing ourselves entirely from the industry” is very clear in its meaning. It definitely does not mean “we’ll close the smaller shops”
 

I’d read it as a threat, to AOT, as to what happens if negotiations fail, the unspoken “the shutters will go down on all duty free shops including Bangkok, which will bring you down too”

I don't get how King Power think they have a leg to stand on really. Like they were given the monopoly and the terms around it, if they threaten to leave then the monopoly will just be given to someone else and the same tat will go back on sale after a few weeks.

 

They're hardly in a strong position to negotiate.

[Parker Pen]

45 minutes ago, Happy Fox said:

Got to hope that the Americans will be interested, I think we have got enough Kudos to get some interest Stateside.

 

John Textor is reported to be interested in owning a club in the championship (Sheffield Wednesday) the latest rumour.

 

We deserve better ownership than these clueless charlatans.

I was thinking the same thing that someone like him with £190 million burning a hole in his pocket could be approached  to buy his way into the club in the same way that he did at Palace with a multi club approach. 

[MattFox]

5 minutes ago, Sol thewall Bamba said:

I don't get how King Power think they have a leg to stand on really. Like they were given the monopoly and the terms around it, if they threaten to leave then the monopoly will just be given to someone else and the same tat will go back on sale after a few weeks.

 

They're hardly in a strong position to negotiate.

Yup

 

The airport could easily run the shops themselves if they really want

 

It’s not a hard business to manage