RFC.L Share News (RFC)

Rangers International Football Club reported an operating loss in its first year back as a listed company, while a group of former directors sought to fight their way back onto the board.Chief Executive Craig Mather said the club was in "a very different place" to its situation prior to the AIM flotation and reassured about the company's financial situation. Rangers, which last December raised £22.2m at 70p as it joined the junior market, on Tuesday revealed that it had £11.2m of cash in the bank at June 30th and no loans, overdrafts or bank borrowings apart from £1.6m of finance leases to be repaid.Since June, though, the company had admitted that its flotation cash had all been spent, with player recruitment absorbing the majority.But Mather reassured in a notice ahead of the club's annual general meeting (AGM), scheduled for October 24th, that the club now enjoyed "financial stability". "Financial discipline has been essential and we will continue to keep a firm grip on expenditure. As we strive to progress through the leagues, revenues can be expected to rise and there will be greater opportunity to improve financial performance further." Rangers said its cost base had been significantly reduced, with player wage-to-revenue ratio lowered to 43%, with staff costs for the cut from £30m to £17.9m "and falling".The club also revealed it had received a "vexatious" and "frivolous" request from a group of minority shareholders to suggest new additions to the board. These unnamed shareholders had suggested resolutions at the forthcoming AGM for the appointment to the board of former directors Malcolm Murray and Paul Murray, together with businessmen Scott Murdoch and Alex Wilson.Shares in RFC were unmoved on Tuesday at 49p. OH