Yellow Army Share Issue

Who are we?

Torquay United Supporters' Trust (TUST) is a democratic, not for profit organisation that seeks to ensure the long-term sustainability of our club for the benefit of current and future supporters and the wider community.  

** All investors must be TUST Members. If you are not a TUST Member please JOIN TUST HERE **

Why are we raising money through a Community Share Issue?

We are launching a unique opportunity for fans to buy community shares and indirectly become shareholders in Torquay United Association Football Club Ltd (TUFC). This will help the Club to raise vital funds to safeguard its long-term future and attempt to realise its ambition to return to the English Football League.

This Community Share Issue (CSI) will provide Gulls fans with the vehicle through which you can indirectly acquire a share in the Club through your membership of TUST.

The CSI will also give supporters an even stronger voice in how the Club is run. Through investment of capital previously held in the TUST Forever Yellow fund, TUST will already have ONE PROTECTED SEAT on the TUFC Board of Directors.

If we meet our minimum fundraising target of £100,000 for this CSI, the Bryn Consortium (with their majority shareholding through Big in Business Ltd) is willing to offer the following enhanced minority shareholder rights:

1. A further SECOND PROTECTED SEAT on the TUFC Board. 

2. Protected approval rights over TUFC’s heritage assets. This means that no majority shareholder of TUFC can change the Club’s name, Stadium, badge, logo or main home kit colours without the agreement of TUST. 

So, the benefits to Gulls' supporters are huge. This effective "Golden Share" helps to secure the long term ownership of TUFC so that it remains in the hands of those with only the long term future of the Club in mind. 

These rights are to be enshrined within the Articles of Association of Torquay United Association Football Club Ltd for all to see and represents a huge step forward for supporters.

The part ownership of  TUFC alongside the “Bryn Consortium” will generate a  new source of pride and  energy in our Club, bringing  back a “feel good factor”  to Plainmoor.

We will be one step closer to realising our ambition for TUFC to be a Club that prides itself on good governance, works actively for long-term sustainability and for the benefit of current and future supporters, as well as the wider community in South Devon.

** All investors must be TUST Members. If you are not a TUST Member please JOIN TUST HERE ** 

How we’ll spend the money raised

As stated above, if we hit our minimum target of £100,000, TUST will invest this sum into Torquay United Association Football Club Ltd and will be issued shares in the Club based on the amount invested. The greater the sum raised, the greater the amount of shares will be purchased and the larger the stake TUST will have in the Club, which will ultimately provide greater financial security.

Your investment will be utilised by TUFC across all Club functions: 

• To invest into the playing budget for Paul Wotton and Neil Warnock to attract the best footballers to the Club. 

• To fund improvements to the infrastructure and the upgrading of facilities at Plainmoor and to enhance the match-day experience for all right around the stadium.  

• To support a new youth development programme to nurture future talent.

 • To allow the Club to boost commercial revenue generating opportunities, particularly around events and the hospitality experience for local businesses wishing to entertain customers.

** All investors must be TUST Members. If you are not a TUST Member please JOIN TUST HERE** 

Community impact

TUFC isn't just a football club. It is a huge part of the local community in Torbay and South Devon. It has been here for 125 years and has been a constant factor in the lives of local residents. Aside from aspirations on the footballing front, it brings people together on matchdays, provides that "topic of conversation",  the reason for people to meet, talk and share their views or dare we say it "let off steam" if they need to from the terraces.

The Torbay area is synonymous with Agatha Christie, Fawlty Towers, Palm Trees and the English Riviera. It attracts many visitors and TUFC plays a significant part in this. Local firms depend on the Club to provide the opportunity to market their business, attract customers and visitors to South Devon. The prospect of an away fixture against the Gulls often leads to a weekend away to enjoy what the bay has to offer. This brings valuable money to the area.

This is why it is so important that the Club continues to exist and the injection of funds through this share issue will play a big part in ensuring that is the case.

We need your help - NOW! - "Buy Community Shares"

For a minimum purchase of £250, you can buy community shares on this site issued by the Torquay United  Supporters Trust. Enjoy benefits from an exclusive member's badge and share certificate to a place on our Shareholder Roll of Honour to be displayed at the Club. You will also have your name woven into the TUFC 1st Team's 3rd shirt for the 2024 season and be invited along to a "Meet the Manager" event.

For those investing £1,000 or more you receive you receive all of the above and additional benefits such as the opportunity through a draw to become a "TUFC Director for the Day" alongside an invitation to the annual TUFC Golf Day and Bar-B-Q.”

Community shares give you a stake in the running of TUFC indirectly through your purchase of shares in TUST. As a TUST shareholder you can have your say on who is elected to sit on the TUFC board on behalf of TUST and can even put yourself forward as a nominee when directorships become available at the end of the agreed elected term. Please refer to the offer document for more information on voting for TUST representatives on the Club board.

Your investment will buy you shares in Torquay United Supporters Society Ltd (also known as Torquay United Supporters Trust or TUST), and we will then use that money to purchase shares in the Club, which will be held in the name of the society. You will not own shares in the Club directly.

Whilst we’re legally able to pay interest on your investment, we’re unlikely to ever do so because we won’t have regular revenues to pay that interest on your shares, and such money that we do generate will very likely be retained to further build TUST reserves or ultimately ploughed back into the Club through further investment.

We also have the legal power to pay your investment back to you - known as allowing you to withdraw your shares - out of our post-tax profits, but since those are likely to be very small, the TUST board will indefinitely suspend the right of members to make withdrawals. The only way we’ll ever have any funds to enable people to have their investment returned to them is under the following circumstances:

1 - We have a new share offer in the future to raise new funds where we can use some of the new money to enable existing investors to have their money returned to them.

2 - Whilst we envisage our shareholding being a permanent part of the ownership base of the Club, there is a scenario whereby the Club can be sold whereby all shareholders could receive a fixed price per share. These circumstances may include i) we are required by law to relinquish our shareholding, or ii) we consented to sell our shareholding via a members vote, perhaps because of a wealthy benefactor wishing to assume control of the Club. In this specific case, we might get a windfall payment which would then be used to give investors their original investment back

So, it is important potential "Investor-Members" understand the payment they make is unlikely to ever be returned and is instead very much for the long term benefit of the Club.

** All investors must be TUST Members. If you are not a TUST Member please JOIN TUST HERE **