Southampton sees sales fall

Southampton continued to count the cost of relegation from the Premiership as it posted a full-year pretax loss and sales fell 43 percent. The company, which runs Coca Cola Championship team Southampton Football Club, posted a pretax loss of GBP 3.3 million from a profit of GBP 0.2 million last year.

Turnover for the 13 months to June 30 fell to GBP 25.7 million from GBP 44.8 million due to loss in broadcasting, commercial and turnstile income. The club was relegated from the big-money Premier League in 2005 and failed in its promotion bid to return to the top flight in 2006.

Average match day attendances were reduced from 30,610 in the 2004-05 season to 23,701 in the 2005-06 season. Season ticket sales were also down on the previous year at 13,500 compared to 21,300.The club made an GBP 11.2 million profit on the sale of players, including Peter Crouch to Liverpool and Theo Walcott to Arsenal.

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