Sheffield United reports losses

The Championship club announced interim results and the launch of a £50m joint venture property company. The club reported pretax loss of £902,000 for the six months ended 31 December 2004 down from £1.28m in the same period the year before. Turnover reported £6.29m, a slight drop from last year’s £6.16m. Match receipts increased by 14% from £2.2m to £2.5m, although reduced season ticket sales of 11,749 contributed to a fall in the average gate to 19,498 compared to 21,552 the year before. Broadcasting income was down by 75% from £700,000 to £400,000 as a result of a fall in the number of televised games and a reduction in central distributions compared to the same period in 2003. Turnover from sponsorship, advertising and merchandising rose from £2.2m to £2.3m, while revenue from the Blades Enterprise Centre increased to £400,000. Operating costs increased mainly from a conscious decision to invest in the first team squad and player wages increased by 14.3% to £2.4m. Amortization of player registrations was down from £176,000 to £141,000 and a profit of £255,000 was made on player trading. With net interest up slightly to £296,000, the club produced a loss per share of 0.78p down from a loss per share of 1.4p the same period the year before. The club continues to pursue its plans for an entertainment complex including a casino near the ground with its partner Las Vegas Sands of the USA. The club is making further inroads into the Far East with continuing progress at its training academy on Hai Nan island off the coast of China and the first tea, has a Chinese tour planned for the summer. Sheffield United also announced the launch of a £50m property investment company, United Scarborough Estates Limited, a joint venture with Scarborough Property Company plc, a company controlled by Kevin McCabe, chairman of Sheffield United. The company will invest in low risk commercial property to provide an initial income in excess of interest charges and associated costs. Each party will put £5m into the joint venture and the company will have a draw down facility of £40m from HBOS Plc.

Source: euFootball.BIZ © Copyright 2006 - All rights reserved.