Finance Update - Year End

Our management accounts show an operating profit of just under £80, 000 for the financial year ended 2024. This is £55k once depreciation has been applied to the stadium at the rate agreed in last year’s audit.

We made a small loss of £4860 in June as expected given the lack of football, and an inability to host other activities whilst the new pitch was under construction.

The balance sheet remains extremely strong with around £400k in cash and additional monies due in the forthcoming months for next season’s sponsorship revenue. Cash to hand in August is over £600k. The negative liability showing under Tax and Social Security reflects a VAT rebate due in July.

We have successfully fully opened the Main Stand after some further work in the summer. This was achieved through a combination of high quality work done to the stadium and the demonstrable competence of the team working at Gigg Lane, who represented the club extremely well to the various third parties responsible issuing the new safety certificate.

Our results for July will undoubtedly show a more significant loss as there were no home games and the season had begun so playing costs increased, but August will be better, and we should see 3G pitch rental revenue start to come through from September onwards.

It is worth reiterating at this stage of the season that cup games rarely produce a positive financial return. Crowds are typically lower, especially in the earlier rounds, and the requirement to split the ticket revenue with the away team means that there is little opportunity to make a profit on a matchday.

We are conscious that our first season back at Gigg Lane was always going to attract a higher level of interest than usual. Our second season will always be tougher. However, sponsorship revenue has been strong, and we are working towards longer term sponsorship contracts which has already secured revenue for the 2025-26 season. We will be announcing some significant new sponsors in the very near future. Season ticket sales have exceeded 1300, similar to season ticket numbers when the club was in the EFL.

We are in the process of assessing options for new lower cost LED lighting throughout the stadium which will be important in lowering energy costs with the pitch in use throughout the week. This will require some capital expenditure from the club alongside some grant funding. This is part of a wider project where we are investigating ways of lowering both our energy costs and our carbon footprint.

We have been delayed a little in issuing the year-end figures as we have taken the opportunity to tidy a number of issues up ahead of our financial audit, which will also help with future reporting. We intend to report both July and August figures in September.