Cricket club pays price post-Ashes Fall in revenue means £1.8m loss but higher-profile games will boost coffers
WARWICKSHIRE County Cricket Club has posted a £1.84 million loss after suffering a £4 million drop in revenue.
In its latest financial report for the year to October 2016, the Edgbaston club said it had anticipated that 2015/16 was going to be its most challenging fiscal year in the cycle leading up to 2019.
The stadium will be the venue for a series of top level international matches over the next few summers following on from hosting the Third Test in the 2015 Ashes series which boosted the previous year’s finances.
The County’s annual report says revenue fell year on year by £4.1 million to £14.2 million while pre-tax profit fell from £740,000 in 2014/2015 to £1.84 million.
Edgbaston Stadium increased its share of the West Midlands’ conference and events market by developing year-on-year sales from £2.2 million to a record £2.5 million while commercial advertising and partnership revenue also increased from £1.1 million in 2014/15 to £1.2 million.
On the field in 2016, Warwickshire were crowned Royal London One-Day Cup champions while Edgbaston welcomed more than 80,000 spectators across five days for England’s Test match win against Pakistan.
Chief operating officer Craig Flindall said: “The quality and volume of our major match days remains the primary driver of revenue and profit and a sig- nificant fall in both was expected in 2016 because of the comparative demand for the Test match against Pakistan against the previous year’s Ashes match, which is our most popular fixture. “However, the transformation in the business since 2010, when England last hosted Pakistan in a Test match at Edgbaston, is reflected in the comparison in the results, with turnover and EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization) in 2016 being £6.5 million and £2.4 million higher than 2010 respectively.
“The club also reported record match day catering sales for a nonAshes year thanks to our increased investment in enhancing Edgbaston’s spectator experience.”
He said the club expected to see revenue grow significantly over the next three years as the club was hosting up to 28 days of major match cricket.
Chief executive Neil Snowball added: “While we have an outstanding allocation of major match days in the next three years, we are working hard to develop our off-field commercial opportunities.
“We made good progress in 2016 and will gain further momentum as we begin our development of the Edgbaston site in the autumn which includes new catering, retail and residential opportunities in areas of the car park and connecting land.
“The club is entering one of the most exciting periods in its history.”