Murray’s a £22million smash hit
...but his rise to the top left me skint, says Judy
IT was the selfless devotion to her sons which propelled them to the top – and left her ‘skint’.
But it appears those cashstrapped years driving the Murray brothers to tennis tournaments across the UK have paid off, according to company accounts.
In fact, former world No 1 Andy Murray’s fortune is more than £22million.
The 30-year-old’s second Wimbledon win and his run to the top of the world rankings during 2016 saw his earnings soar.
He has also generated cash via lucrative merchandising and sponsorship deals as well as property investments.
Latest accounts just published for his company 77 Management show that it increased its shareholder funds by more than £5million to £22,036,706 in the year to December 2016.
The figures emerged as the Scots tennis ace’s mother revealed that getting her two sons the best training possible for their tennis careers left her family ‘skint’. Judy Murray said her family struggled to fund Andy’s place at a tennis academy in Barcelona for three years when he was a teenager.
The 58-year-old is now calling for better financial help for promising young British tennis players.
She said there was no prize money in junior tennis and it was expensive to travel the world playing tournaments.
It was only after Andy turned professional at 18 in 2005 that he started earning, which helped the family support elder brother Jamie’s career on the doubles circuit.
She said: ‘You have no idea how expensive it is to develop a young tennis player. Once they outgrow their county area, you have to travel.
‘Once you try to rise up the world junior rankings by having to play overseas, it is like going on holiday every week but without the fun.
‘It’s hotels, accommodation, meals, physios and so on – and there is nothing coming back in.
‘It’s an enormous expense and it is why many kids and families pull out because the costs are beyond the average family.’
She added: ‘Andy won the US juniors in September 2004 and by the end of September 2005 I was watching him playing the final of an ATP tour event in Bangkok against Roger Federer.
‘It was like the fastest rise ever. My God, it was fast, we were absolutely skint.’
But her son’s latest accounts demonstrate how the financial struggle eventually paid off.
They revealed that 77 Management held total assets of £35.4million, which included £23million held in a bank account, almost £10million owed by debtors and a £2.4million investment portfolio.
It owed £13.4million to creditors and declared retained profits of £5.4million.
Murray, who changed the name of the company from Parched Investments to 77 Management to mark becom- ing the first British male in 77 years to win Wimbledon, paid himself a ‘service fee’ of £2.2million – up from £1.3million the year before.
The company also controls the Cromlix hotel near his home town of Dunblane, Perthshire. Murray bought the hotel in 2013 for almost £2million.
Mrs Murray is the secretary of 77 Management and accountant Neil Grainger is a director, but her younger son is in overall control.
The company, which has three full-time employees, paid more than £2.2million in tax during the year. Its investments were listed as ‘freehold property’ worth £2.4million.
Murray has career prize money totalling around £46million, taking home £12.4million in 2016 alone.
He has endorsement deals with retailer Head, sportswear firm Under Armour, watchmaker Rado Switzerland and financial firm Standard Life.
He is expecting his second child with wife Kim. The couple had a daughter, Sophia, in February last year.
‘An enormous expense’