The authoritative Swiss Ramble has taken a look at Ipswich Town's results for 2017/18, their 16th successive season in the Championship. Their loss increased by £0.9m from £4.3m to £5.2m, as revenue dropped slightly (£0.1m) to £17.1m and profit on player sales fell £0.3m to £3.8m. Wages up £0.8m (4%) to £18.5m,
Gate receipts continued to fall, down £0.4m (8%) to £4.7m, but this was largely offset by an increase in the central TV distribution, which meant broadcasting income rose £0.3m (4%) to £8.1m. Commercial revenue was unchanged at £4.4m.
Almost all Championship clubs lose money, so Ipswich's £5m loss is actually one of the smallest of the clubs that have reported so far in 2017/18. Only four clubs made money, while seven clubs have posted losses above £20m.
The £4m profit on player sales was largely due to the transfers of Adam Webster to Bristol City and Kieffer Moore to Barnsley. This is far below the large profits clubs recently relegated from the Premier League made from this activity.
In 2017/18 Ipswich only had £436k player purchases (mainly Emyr Huws, Martyn Waghorn and Joe Garner), which was the lowest in the Championship, bringing their total for the last five years to just £3.7m. They were massively outspent by clubs like Boro £66m and Wolves £25m.
The Tractors have lost £80m since Marcus Evans bought the club in 2007, averaging an annual loss of around £7m, though these have reduced in the last five seasons. The improvement in losses is partly due to higher profits on player sales, which have more than doubled in past four seasons to £5.2m average, though most came in 2014/15 with £12m.
Gate receipts decreased £0.4m (8%) to £4.7m, as average attendance fell from 16,980 to 16,272 (with season ticket sales dropping from 12,022 to 10,144) and one home game less. One of the lowest match day incomes in the Championship, but around the same as promoted Cardiff. Crowds have slumped by over a third since the recent 25,651 peak in 2004/05, when they reached the play-offs. Since then, the only season where the attendance increased was 2014/15, when Mick McCarthy’s side also got to the play-offs.
The wage bill grew £0.8m (4%) to £18.5m with the wages to turnover ratio rising from 103% to 108%. This was the fourth year in a row that wages have climbed, but they are only £0.5m above £18.0m spent in 2012, when the wages to turnover ratio was as high as 119%.
The £18.5m wage bill was 19th highest in the Championship, way behind Villa £73m and less than half Norwich £42m. the Swiss Ramble comments, 'The substantial wages gap underlines the club’s challenge.'
Gross debt increased by £6m from £89m to £95m. It has shot up from £36m when Evans bought the club in 2007. All the debt is owed to various Marcus Evans’ companies, through a mixture of loans, convertible loan notes and preference shares, so there is no external debt. The £95m debt is the 2nd highest in the Championship, only below Boro £101m. Unlike many other football club owners, Evans has not converted any debt into equity.
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