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Preston punch above their weight

The authoritative Swiss Ramble provides an in depth analysis of the accounts of Preston North End: https://swissramble.substack.com/p/preston-north-end-finances-202122

Preston’s £20.2m loss is still one of the largest in the Championship. It is only surpassed by Bristol City £28.5m to date in 2021/22, though others could obviously be even higher when they publish their accounts.  Many clubs offset their operating losses to some extent via profits from player sales, but Preston only generated £0.3m here, down from prior year £0.7m.

The last time Preston reported a profit was in 2018, so they have lost money four years in a row. Not only that, but the losses have been worsening, rising from £14m in 2019 to £20m in 2022. This is the cost of trying to be competitive in the Championship.

Not a single club managed to deliver an operating profit in 2020/21 in this ultra-competitive division. Over half of them lost more than £20m from day-to-day business.

Since the Hemmings family took over the club, the Swiss Ramble reckons they have had to provide £84m of financial support. Since these accounts closed, they have put in an additional £5.1m.

Given their low revenue and wages, Preston continue to punch well above their weight in the Championship. Even though they are far from excessive in their spending, they still post large losses, so they are fortunate that the Hemmings family has funded the annual shortfalls, which has allowed them to remain competitive.


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