Skip to main content

West Ham report big profit

West Ham turned a £4.8m loss into a £43m profit in 2016-17, but this mainly because of additional television revenues and player sales. The club has admitted that the profit figure would have been much the same if the club had stayed at Upton Park: West Ham

The sale of Upton Park produced a profit of just £8.7m. They had 52,000 season tickets renewed, ticket sales were up by 6.3 per cent, retail up by 2 per cent and the community and sponsorship departments increased revenue by some 35.7 per cent.

Anecdotally, I know that some disillusioned Charlton supporters living in Kent have taken advantage of fast rail travel to Stratford to support West Ham.

I have now read the accounts in more detail. These are available free of charge online at Companies House. Please note that the figures relate to the year ending May 2017 and do not include what the club regards as 'significant investments' in players in the summer transfer window.

Turnover was £183.3m, up from £142m. Profit from disposal of players was £28.4m compared with £4.1m. Match receipts were up marginally from £26.9m to £28.6m. Retail and merchandising was relatively unchanged at £9.5m from £9.3m. This suggests to me that the club lacks the global reach of top clubs.

The biggest increase was in broadcast and central sponsorship distributions from £86.7m to £119.3m. This emphasises why it is so crucial for West Ham to stay in the top flight and why a change of manager was unavoidable.

Commercial activities were up from £19m to £25.8m which is encouraging.

Total employment costs were £95m, up from £84m. At just over 50 per cent of turnover, this is a healthy figure. The highest paid director received £868,000.

.

The board states in its report: 'The Board were hopeful that we would build on the fact that we finished 7th in the Premier League in the 2015-16 season, but as a result of unprecedented major injuries we had to endure, coupled with a difficult start to the season in our new stadium as we ironed out the teething problems associated with moving to a new ground and dealing with an outside operator, we are satisfied we finished 11th.'

This season the top six have pulled away from the other clubs with more points than all the rest combined. The middle stratum of clubs who are safe from relegation but unlikely to qualify for Europe has largely disappeared. West Ham find themselves in a crowded relegation league.

I am confident they will not be relegated. But the challenge is to be more than the 'nearly men' of the Premier League. My father played his non-league football in the borough, having been born in North Woolwich and working in Stratford. He was at the famous 'white horse' final at Wembley. I wish West Ham well, but it may be a bumpy road.

The price of football site has provided a detailed analysis of West Ham's results: Fools gold

Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Fulham requires big funding from owner

After lengthy delays, Fulham’s shiny, new Riverside Stand has finally opened, creating “a unique Thameside destination with first class facilities for supporters and partners on match days, as well as for the wider community year-round”. This ambitious project has increased Craven Cottage’s capacity by around 4,000 to 29,600, while it has also taken advantage of the club’s fantastic location and wealthy catchment area by including two Michelin star restaurants, a rooftop swimming pool, corporate hospitality and event space, all benefiting from views of the Thames. Chief executive Alistair Mackintosh observed, “Fulham is the sort of club that can have a business class or first class and have fans that turn left on a plane.” Indeed, there is also an exclusive members club – with a football season ticket as an optional extra. It’s fair to say that “the times they are a-changing”, as this is a long way from the traditional pie and a pint. However, in a world where clubs face the tw...
Post a Comment
Read more

Threat of financial calamity removed from Baggies

West Bromwich Albion had effectively been in decline ever since the club was sold to a Chinese consortium in August 2016, paying a figure north of £200m to buy former owner Jeremy Peace’s stake. Controlling shareholder Guochuan Lai’s ownership was fairly disastrous for the club, but his unloved tenure finally came to an end after Bilkul Football WBA, a company ultimately owned by Florida-based entrepreneur Shilen Patel and his father Dr Kiran Patel, acquired an 87.8% shareholding in West Bromwich Albion Group Limited, the parent company of West Bromwich Albion Football Club. This change in ownership was urgently required, due to the numerous financial problems facing West Brom, including growing high-interest debt and serious cash flow concerns, following years of no investment from the former owner. Indeed, West Brom’s auditors had already rung the alarm bell in the 2021/22 accounts when they cast doubt on the club’s ability to continue as a going concern without making player s...
1 comment
Read more

A poor financial record, but new hope at Everton

I recently saw an amusing video online in which a group of Everton fans were rebuked in jest for being hopeful.  Football fans in general tend to swing between excessive optimism and excessive pessimism, but for many it seems that moaning is in their bloodstream (Spurs fans probably take the trophy).  However, Everton fans have had plenty to moan about on and off the pitch.   Let’s hope that a new era is about to begin for this grand old club. Everton’s 2023/24 financial results covered a fairly momentous season, when they ended up 15th in the Premier League, though they would finished three places higher if they had not received an 8-point deduction for breaching the Premier League’s Profitability and Sustainability Regulations (PSR). It was a worrying time for Everton fans, as the club faced a “perfect storm” of issues, including large financial losses, an ever increasing debt burden, a challenging stadium build and the tortuous sale of the club. There were eve...
Post a Comment
Read more