Celtic, the Glasgow football club in which financier Mr Dermot Desmond has an effective 13.8 per cent shareholding, continues to grow and plans a full London listing for its shares. It already has a listing on the lesser Alternative Investment Market in London and the company will shortly seek to upgrade this to the main market. A spokesman told The Irish Times that it should have the full listing before the end of the year.

As a prelude to the listing, the company is to split the nominal value of its shares in the ratio of 100 to 1. The shares are traded at about £220 sterling, valuing the company at more than £100 million. The split will bring the share price down to a more marketable 220p.

While profit after tax increased by 38 per cent from £5.2 million to £7.1 million in the year ended June 30th 1998, the operating profit fell by 14 per cent to £5.1 million due to a 57 per cent increase in players' salaries. Celtic continues to pay no dividends on its ordinary shares. The funds are instead reinvested in the club.

Sales grew by 25 per cent from £22.2 million to £27.8 million. Season ticket sales rose from 40,529 to 42,322. The fully diluted earnings per share increased from £10.83 to £14.90.

The chairman, Mr Fergus McCann, said the operation of the club has ensured that £12.2 million of funds have been used to strengthen the team, while still completing the construction of a £40 million stadium. Mr Desmond, who is a non-executive director of Celtic, has 14,393 ordinary shares, representing 5 per cent of the equity. He also has 51,313 preference shares which are convertible into ordinary shares in 2001. On full conversion, his equity stake would rise to 13.8 per cent.