The Courier & Advertiser (Fife Edition)
Murray’s minted: Tennis star’s on ball with money
Sir Andy’s business empire is booming thanks to savvy investments
Tennis star Sir Andy Murray has boosted the value of his business empire to more than £25 million, new figures have revealed.
The 31-year-old’s earnings have continued to soar despite a difficult year which saw him sidelined with a hip injury.
Murray has coined in huge sums through a string of lucrative merchandising and sponsorship deals as well as property investments.
Latest accounts just published for his company 77 Management show that it increased its worth by more than £3m to £25,093,009 in the year to December 2017.
The firm had total assets of £33.4m, which included £22m held in a bank account, almost £9m owed by debtors and a £2.4m investment portfolio.
It owed £8m to creditors and declared pre-tax profits of £5m on a turnover of £9.2m.
Murray changed the name of the company from Parched Investments to 77 Management to mark him becoming the first British male in 77 years to win Wimbledon.
The London-based company also controls the Cromlix Hotel near his home town of Dunblane.
Murray bought the hotel in 2013 for almost £2m, and the accounts show it made a profit of £64,000 in 2017.
Murray’s accountant Neil Grainger is a director of 77 management but the three-time Grand Slam winner controls the firm.
Writing in the accounts, Mr Grainger said he was confident the firm would continue to make profits despite concerns over Murray’s future career due to his injury.
He said: “The principal activity of the company is to market and turn to profit the name, fame and image and marketing rights of sporting personalities.
“The directors are satisfied with the trading results of the company.
“As with all exploitation of rights, there cannot be any certainty that future activity will continue to reflect the past but the directors are confident that the company will continue to show profitable results in the future.”
The firm, which has two full-time employees, paid more than £1.7m in tax during the year.
The money held in the company is thought to represent only part of Murray’s total net worth.
The Scot, who won Wimbledon and defended his Olympic gold medal in the men’s singles during 2016, has career prize money totalling around £46m, taking home £12.4m in 2016 alone.
Murray has endorsement deals with tennis retailer Head and sportswear firm Under Armour.
He previously had contracts with watchmaker Rado Switzerland and financial firm Standard Life.
He has been battling a hip injury which caused him to miss a number of events, and underwent surgery in Australia in January.
The double Wimbledon champion returned to the court in June and played at the Shenzhen Open in China last week
He was beaten in the quarter finals there.
He later withdrew from this week’s China Open with an ankle injury and will not be returning to action until January.
Matt Gentry, managing director of 77, has previously said Murray has turned down a number of big-money deals and is selective about endorsements.
He said: “If it affects his training schedule, or he doesn’t believe in the product, he won’t do it, regardless of the money.
“He’s quite principled. He doesn’t need the money.”
Murray has also branched out into sports management and is mentoring a number of budding stars including tennis players, footballers and athletes.