Worcester Warriors
The :P Share"
By JP
July 31 2025
How it affected Warriors historically and how it will affect us going forward
Rugby Union P Shares refer to a specific type of equity share in Premiership Rugby Limited (PRL), which governs the top tier of professional rugby union in England. These shares entitle holders to a range of financial and decision-making rights within Premiership Rugby.
Key Features of P Shares:
- Ownership Stake in Premiership Rugby Ltd:
- Each P Share represents an ownership interest in PRL.
- Clubs that hold P Shares are effectively shareholders in the league.
- Revenue Entitlement:
- P Shareholders receive a proportion of central revenues, such as:
- Broadcasting rights (e.g., BT Sport deals)
- Sponsorship income
- Commercial and digital rights
- Voting Rights:
- P Shareholders have voting power on key decisions about the league structure, commercial deals, and governance.
- This gives clubs influence over how the league is run.
- Promotion and Relegation Impact:
- P Shares are traditionally held by current Premiership clubs, but clubs relegated to the Championship often retain their P Shares—though they may forfeit or suspend some benefits.
- Promoted clubs without P Shares may not get a full revenue share unless they buy or are granted a P Share.
- Sale and Transfer:
- P Shares can be sold or transferred between clubs, subject to PRL’s rules.
- There has been controversy over clubs selling their P Shares to others, especially when clubs are relegated.
- Limited Number:
- Only 13 P Shares exist (one per club from when the system was formalized in the early 2000s).
- This reflects a closed-shop model, although the league has fluctuated in size.
Why They Matter:
- P Shares are crucial for financial stability and political power within English rugby.
- They have become a major point of debate in discussions about promotion/relegation, league expansion, and equity deals (like CVC Capital Partners’ investment in PRL).
Original P Share Issues
- 1. Bath Premiership 2005–06
- 2. Bristol Premiership 2005–06
- 3. Gloucester Premiership 2005–06
- 4. Harlequins Premiership 2005–06
- 5. Leicester Tigers Premiership 2005–06
- 6. London Irish Premiership 2005–06
- 7. London Wasps Premiership 2005–06
- 8. Newcastle Falcons Premiership 2005–06
- 9. Northampton Saints Premiership 2005–06
- 10. Sale Sharks Premiership 2005–06
- 11. Saracens Premiership 2005–06
- 12. Leeds Tykes Relegated in 2004–05, but retained a P Share due to their prior status and PRL involvement
- Worcester, promoted in 2004–05, were not given a P Share initially — this was a major controversy for years and led to the later phase-in model.
Worcester:
Promoted 2004 Entered phased funding model (starting at 70%)
2004–05 (Year 1) 70% Entry into Premiership
2005–06 75% Second year survival
2006–07 80% Continued top-flight presence
2007-08 85% Continued top-flight presence
2008-09 90% Continued top-flight presence
2009-10 95% Continued top-flight presence
2010–11 100% Full revenue parity achieved
2011 granted a full P Share Full member status with PRL
In 2010-2011 after 7 consecutive seasons in the Premiership, Worcester achieved full parity — receiving 100% of the central revenues associated with a P Share.
This structured integration path was designed to incentivize stability and reward clubs who proved they could compete sustainably in the top flight.
What This Meant:
• They now received the full annual value from central revenues (TV, sponsorship).
• They gained governance rights — voting power within PRL.
• They were considered a full stakeholder, on par with clubs like Bath, Leicester, and Saracens.
P Share Transfers and Sales Since Then
• Exeter Chiefs bought Leeds’ P Share in 2012 for approx. £5 million.
• Wasps, Worcester, and London Irish sold theirs back to PRL during their administrations (2022–23).
• As of 2024–25, there are fewer than 13 active shareholders, with the shares held in reserve by PRL.
Worcester Warriors
Warriors sold their P Share in 2022.
• When Warriors entered administration in 2022, their P Share was sold back to Premiership Rugby Ltd (PRL).
• The reported value was around £9.8 million.
• The sale was confirmed by administrators and widely reported in the media (e.g. BBC, The Times).
• The money went toward paying off Warriors’ substantial debts, including unpaid wages and tax bills.
Important: The P Share did not transfer to the “new” Warriors (who were hoping to relaunch in the Championship); it was retained by PRL.
Wasps RFC
Wasps sold their P Share in 2022.
• When Wasps entered administration in October 2022, their P Share was sold back to Premiership Rugby Ltd (PRL).
• The reported value was around £9.8 million.
• The sale was confirmed by administrators and widely reported in the media (e.g. BBC, The Times).
• The money went toward paying off Wasps’ substantial debts, including unpaid wages and tax bills.
Important: The P Share did not transfer to the “new” Wasps (who are hoping to relaunch in the Championship); it was retained by PRL.
London Irish
London Irish’s P Share was also sold in 2023.
• London Irish were suspended and then entered administration in June 2023 due to failure to meet financial criteria and clear HMRC debts.
• Their P Share was reportedly sold back to PRL not long after their collapse.
• Like with Wasps and Worcester, the P Share was considered one of the most valuable assets of the club.
• The funds went into the hands of administrators, to be used for creditor repayment.
What Happens to the P Shares Now?
• The P Shares are held by Premiership Rugby (PRL), reducing the number of active voting shareholders from 13 to 10.
• PRL can choose to:
• Redistribute them to promoted clubs (very rare)
• Sell them to clubs who don’t currently have one (e.g. Ealing, Warriors, Wasps or London Irish — if promoted and compliant)
• Or retain them to consolidate control and revenue distribution centrally
As of now, there are fewer than 13 active P Shareholders due to these buybacks.
If Worcester Warriors are promoted back to the Premiership,
They would not automatically receive full funding parity with existing Premiership clubs—unless they also hold or acquire a P Share in Premiership Rugby Limited (PRL).
Key Issues for Worcester on Promotion:
1. P Share Ownership
- Worcester previously held a P Share, but when the club was suspended from the Premiership in 2022 due to financial collapse and later relegated, PRL revoked or redistributed their P Share.
- The current reincarnation of Worcester Warriors (under new ownership and operating as a new entity) does not hold a P Share.
2. Without a P Share:
- If promoted without a P Share, Worcester would:
- Not receive a full share of central revenues (broadcast, sponsorship, etc.).
- Have limited or no voting rights in Premiership governance.
- Likely face a funding gap of several million pounds compared to established Premiership clubs.
3. To Achieve Parity, Worcester Would Need To:
- Buy a P Share from a current shareholder club (difficult, expensive, and politically sensitive).
- Convince PRL to reissue or grant them a P Share (unlikely, as P Shares are limited and coveted).
- Accept a phased funding model, where central income increases over time (as seen in the past with promoted clubs like Warriors or London Welsh before full reintegration).
This structural barrier is part of why promotion from the Championship is so controversial—it’s not just about sporting merit, but about commercial and political access to the top flight.
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31/07/2025 13:43
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Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 2025:08:02:06:32:10 by Faithful_City.
The previous year the company, which owned and ran Worcester Warriors, had posted a loss of £5,755,423 and was insolvent on paper.
On the face of it a significant turnaround – but by 2022 WRFC Trading was in Administration.
How could that be when a profit of nearly £13m had been made only a few years before?
What happened was that Worcester’s P share was revalued, from £6,483,082 to £13,864,000.
In other words, the paper value of Worcester’s P share went up considerably and the revaluation difference was taken as a profit - £7,380,918.
(There was also a large exceptional item involving Worcester Sport Limited takne as profit but that is not relevant to the thrust of this post)
Surely Messrs Whittingham and Goldring must be held to account for the revaluation of the P share? Isn’t it fraudulent?
Well, no.
Because it was just one of a series of revaluations – always upwards – of the P shares in all of the Premiership Rugby clubs, a pattern which was well established.
Indeed in their accounts to 30 June 2010, Sale (Manchester Sale Rugby Club Limited) included a valuation of £120 for their P share. By the 2014 accounts a valuation of £3,597,000 was showing and the 2015 accounts saw an increase to £6,483,082. There was a further upward revaluation in the 2019 accounts with the 2024 accounts (the latest available) recording yet another rise to £17,551,780.
Worcester’s pattern (until Administration) followed much the same path as did Gloucester’s. I do not doubt that this was the same for the other Premiership clubs. Certainly the 2024 accounts for another 7 of the 10 Premiership clubs show the £17,551,780 valuation whilst the two outliers (Bath and Northampton) show a slightly higher figure occasioned, I think, by those clubs including shares in PRL which are not P shares but A or B shares.
So we can see a situation whereby the value of P shares has increased from a pound or two in 2010 to nearly £18m last year – across the board.
These values have been come to by way of a formula agreed between the PRL, the clubs and, I presume, the clubs’ auditors. It is based on a perpetual income from broadcasting – the P in P shares stands for perpetual - measured over a number of years, discounted.
In short, it is opinion based as of course the P shares are not tradeable in the normal way and there is no market value as such.
To be fair to the clubs, including WRFC Trading Limited, anyone reading the full set of accounts, not just the headlines, will see immediately the nature of the revaluations, that they are book entries only and not cash generations.
But how many lay people do read a full set of accounts and understand the real, underlying situation?
And how is all of this relevant to Worcester Warriors today? Isn’t it just history? It doesn’t matter now surely?
It might.
If promotion to the Premiership was on offer it may well come with the opportunity to buy a P share.
How much would it cost?
Chris Holland mentioned a figure of £13.5 million at the 23 January 2025 meeting with supporters as the price for a P share.
Whilst there is no market for P shares as such there have been sales:-
- Exeter bought Leeds’ P share for £5 million in 2013. That share is now valued at £17,551,780
- The P shares of WRFC Trading Limited and Wasps Holdings Limited were bought by PRL Investor Limited from the respective Administrators for the identical price of £9,814,016
- It is expected that the P share of London Irish Holdings Limited will be bought by PRL Investor Limited but as at the date of the last Administrators’ Report, for the period to 6 June 2025, no sale had been agreed. The net sale proceeds, when received, will go to the security holder – Close Leasing Limited – in exactly the same way that the proceeds of the WRFC Trading P share sale went to reduce the outstanding government loan (the Covid loan).
The shareholding agreement between the PRL, the clubs and – since 2019 – CVC is confidential and not in the public domain. We cannot know the formulae for how valuations have been come to over the years, the formula for agreeing prices with the Administrators or how the £13.5 million Chris Holland quoted has been arrived at.
In summary, the situation is that, with the exception of Exeter, no Premiership club has bought their P share with real money and all the clubs’ balance sheets include a substantial asset with a paper value of getting on for £20 million.
In return for holding the P shares the clubs – and CVC – get a share of broadcast and sponsorship income.
The situation has moved on considerably since the time the old Worcester club – was it Warriors then? I’ve forgotten – had a P share allocated bit by bit (see JP’s excellent note above). Now the significant values on the balance sheets, not forgetting that Exeter paid real money for their P share, mean that I think it is very unlikley that the price of £13.5 million can be avoided. There does not seem to be any question of being given a P share for nothing.
Having said all of this, the future is far from certain. We may well be moving to an era when corporates are taking over from “sugar daddies” as owners and financiers of clubs, to the possibility of expansion of the Premiership, to the possibility of an Anglo-Welsh league, to a totally different rugby world which we have all grown up in.
If any of that happens, the question of P shares may well be irrelevant. But for the moment it is not.
For Worcester Warriors to get a full share of central PRL income if / when promoted at least £13.5 million will have to be found. Phasing in might be possible, I don't know.
Meanwhile, the balance sheets of Premiership clubs are not as robust as they look at first glance. They contain an asset with a significant value - but only on paper.
Hypothetically, the response to the R360 threat is a merger of the URC and the Premiership, so it may well all become moot anyway.
