Yorkshire announce profit for first time since 2009

Yorkshire County Cricket Club are reporting, for the first time since 2009, a profit after tax of £368k for the year.
Yorkshire have announced a profit for the first time since 2009Yorkshire have announced a profit for the first time since 2009
Yorkshire have announced a profit for the first time since 2009

There was an increase in total income of £8.4m (2014 – £7.3m), which represents a 14 per cent growth on the previous year.

Income from the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) increased to £2.4m from £2.2m, reflecting increased receipts due to our development of England players and their representation in the national side.

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Overall costs slightly increased in line with sales to £7.8m (2014 - £6.8m).

The success of our international players’ meant that the annual players’ wage bill, which rose by £358k including the cost of maintaining a larger squad to cover players representing England.

During the year, the club received a grant of £700k from the ECB to help part fund the installation of new floodlights at a cost of £1.5m.

With Colin Graves’s appointment as ECB chairman in March 2015, it meant that the club had to refinance his loans so that the club would be financially independent from him.

As a result, the club has refinanced some of its debt.

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The Graves family trusts, which are entirely independent from Colin Graves in his personal capacity, have advanced loans of £18.9m, which has allowed the previous loans from Mr Graves, the Graves family trusts and Leeds City Council to be repaid.

Leeds City Council, after reviewing the actual cost of interest that the Council had incurred in servicing the debt, which demonstrated that the cost to the Council of the loan had been fully met by the club, accepted £6.5m in settlement of the £7.4m capital outstanding on the loan.

As a result of the refinancing, we reduced the club’s annual interest bill by £300k per year and there are no scheduled capital repayments until 2019.

Paul Hudson, director of finance, said: “We have made further progress in 2015 and to report an annual profit for the first time since 2009 is a significant step forward.

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“It is gratifying that turnover in all areas has increased consistently over the past three years and we expect this trend to continue in 2016.

“The successful completion of the club’s refinancing was a watershed and we are confident that the existing debt is now at a manageable level.

"The club is in a stronger financial position than it has been at any time in recent years.”

The Annual General Meeting of members will be held in the East Stand Long Room, Headingley Cricket Ground on Saturday March 26 2015 at 10am.