London - The future of Tom Hicks and George Gillett as owners of Liverpool was plunged into doubt on Friday as the parent company they use to run the club, Kop Football (Holdings) Limited, announced losses of 42.6 million pounds (68.4 million dollars) for last year.

The club's accountants, KPMG LLP, acknowledged that left Hicks and Gillett's continued ownership in "significant doubt".

The warning came despite Liverpool posting a record turnover of 159.1 million pounds for the year ending July 2008, with a profit of 10.2 million pounds.

The problem is not the viability of the club as a business, but the co-owners' attempts to refinance a 350-million-pound debt before a July 24 deadline, and the losses result largely from interest payments on that debt.

Hicks and Gillett recently met with Royal Bank of Scotland officials to discuss a six-month extension to the deadline.(dpa)