Wildcats deny cash crisis

PERTH Wildcats has denied it faces impending financial doom after a report last week claiming principal sponsor Saville Australia had pulled the pin on the club's biggest sponsorship deal.

Wildcats chief executive Nick Marvin said the club was yet to enter into formal negotiations with the property group, but was in talks with other potential sponsors.

"As we see it, they [Saville Australia] have a contract with us for another year and we really need to establish where they want to go with that," Mr Marvin said.

"We haven't had any formal conversation about the contract yet so we at this stage are just going ahead as planned."

Mr Marvin said losing Saville would be a "worst case scenario" but that the principal sponsorship deal represented less than 10 per cent of the club's $3.5 million operating revenue.

"We're always talking to sponsors and potential sponsors and there's always people ringing up with interest," he said.

"Because we're a second-tier sport it's not outrageous sums of money and we do provide a return on investment but we never really see ourselves struggle through this, in fact we are seeing a spike in sponsorship."

Attempts by WA Business News to reach Saville Australia director Peter Kavanagh were unsuccessful.

Saville is believed to have scaled back its activities after the shelving of several proposed property developments, including the Emu Brewery site and the Altus apartment tower.

The Wildcats is currently bankrolled by owner Jack Bendat, who is said be searching for external financial assistance to see the Perth franchise into the revamped basketball competition in October.