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Worrying financial results at Charlton

The 2016-17 accounts for Charlton Athletic have now been published and may be viewed online on the Companies House website. They show that £57.7m was owed to the parent company, Staprix NV, controlled by controversial Belgian owner Roland Duchatelet. Fanzine editor Rick Everitt suggests that the current figure may be nearer £70m. £695k was paid on interest on these loans in the financial year.

Turnover fell from £12.1m to £7.6m. The largest item was matchday income, but this was down from £4.8m to £3.2m. The report notes, 'The 33% decrease on prior year arises to the decrease in attendances from the 15/16 season following relegation from the Championship and some continued fan discontent leading to reduced purchases at The Valley on matchdays.'

Central distributions from the Premier League and the English Football League fell by 64 per cent as a result of relegation from the Championship. There was a one off £0.2m parachute payment. Commercial income decline by 2 per cent to £1.3m.

Staff costs fell from £14.0m to £11.1m. This was not far short of 150 per cent of turnover, a worryingly high ratio for League One.

There was a profit on player sales of £16.2m which it is admitted is unlikely to be repeated for a long time.

Voice of the Valley editor Rick Everitt commented, '[The] accounts confirm that Duchatelet and Meire [former chief executive] had halved income from spectators three years after taking over. Turnover lowest since 1998, all-time record operating loss of £14.3m while paying same wages as 2014 to finish 13th in L1.' He considers that it represents an abysmal trading record with poor cost controls.

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