Arsenal Holdings PLC: Scoring Goals in Business and Football

When the Blog Post 6 rolled around, I was presented with a dilemma. Since Jelly Belly Candy Company is privately held and doesn't interact publicly with investors, I could either post my shortest blog assignment yet or find another company that would allow me to answer the prompts more fully.

Needless to say, I chose option #2.

For this assignment, I'm looking at Arsenal Holdings plc, the parent company of London's Arsenal Football Club, a professional team in England's Barclays Premier League. Arsenal Holdings plc ("plc" stands for "public limited company") isn't a publicly traded company, either, but it has issued more than 60,000 shares. These shares are not traded on the London or New York stock exchanges but on specialty exchanges and the majority (66.7 percent) shareholder is American Stan Kroenke, better known for owning the St. Louis Rams of the National Football League and the Denver Nuggets of the National Basketball Association.

In providing updates on the activities of its 12 subsidiary companies, which include the team itself and companies that manage the team's stadium property and operate the venue itself (known as Emirate Stadium), Arsenal Holdings plc does an excellent job in keeping all its stakeholders, including investors, fans and followers, current using traditional financial reports and its annual general shareholders meeting, which was held this year on Oct. 27. In the fiscal year ending May 31, 2011, the football (soccer) team posted a profit of £45.8 million ($71.8 million) and the other subsidiaries were profitable as well. In 2009, Forbes ranked Arsenal as the third most successful football franchise on the planet, behind only England's Manchester United and Spain's Real Madrid.   

A quick Google search for "Arsenal Holdings plc" brings up its latest financial year-end report as the first result. This report, available in downloadable PDF format, includes detailed financial results for all subsidiary companies as well as reports from the chairman, chief executive and directors.

The "Community" section of its annual report details the many initiatives Arsenal Holdings plc has undertaken to help local government in improving the North London area. One of the company properties, Elthorne Park, was recognized in March with the Mayor of London's Safer Parks Gold Award for efforts to fight anti-social behavior and create safer community environments for children. And, despite its primary focus on football, Arsenal has introduced a host of sports, including field hockey, as part of its community outreach and one participant, Darren Cheesman, will represent Great Britain during the London 2012 Olympic Games.

Arsenal's charitable campaign, "Be a Gooner (a play on the team's nickname "The Gunners"), Be a Giver," raised more than £600,000, some of which was used for efforts to aid homeless youth through education and employment training.  

While Arsenal's reputation in Europe and worldwide is well-known, it is still a work in progress here in the United States, and I feel that Arsenal has an opportunity to accomplish more through its commercial partnership with the Colorado Rapids of Major League Soccer.

This alliance, which dates to 2007, focuses mainly on developing players but could be expanded to integrate some of Arsenal's London-based charitable and community outreach efforts into neighborhoods in Colorado where some of the same services could be utilized. Such an expansion would be especially helpful because the percentage of Colorado children living in poverty grew from 11.3 percent in 2000 to 15 percent in 2008, according to U.S. census data.  

Sports franchises don't often experience crises like chemical or oil spills or massive financial mismanagement, and Arsenal Holdings plc would be well advised to stay its course should the company undergo any business disaster in the future. There is excellent communications with all stakeholders, particularly its investors and its Arsenal Footbal Club fans, and a deep conviction to and proven track record of corporate social responsibility.

Many viewed the start of the team's 2011/2012 season as a crisis, as it included losses to league rivals Liverpool and Manchester United, but top management was unshaken. During the annual general meeting in October, the normally media-shy majority owner Stan Kroenke told shareholder that "Arsenal has all the elements that you need to have success in this kind of business," a statement that sent all the right signals.

In English football, head coaches (known as "managers") normally get quite nervous when the results don't go their way and worry about getting fired (or "sacked" in British slang), but Kroenke's timely remark helped sooth manager Arsene Wenger's nerves and the team has since posted five wins, two draws and one loss, a record that included beating crosstown rivals Chelsea F.C. 5-3 October 29.