Accounts are out

[GrangeParkCobbler]

The Chairman declares himself pleased that the club only made a loss of £1.67m in the year ending to June 2019.

The loss was less than the previous years £2.2m.

The Company accounts balance sheet now shows a deficit of £7,152,480.  The vast majority of that is owed to the controlling companies, which are of course owned by common Directors, so they are covering the clubs losses by way of loans to the club, loans went up from £2.5m to £4.3m in the year.

Even the headline figure of £7.152m is kept lower by the fact the accounts list the East Stand under construction as an asset worth £2.4m. The true figure without this "asset" would be a staggering £9.5m in the red.

The Club and press spin is interesting, saying we have "reduced the overall losses".....which is technically true in as much as we lost less in 2019 than in 2018, but they seem to lose sight of the fact a loss is still a loss, and the two seasons combined have resulted in a loss of almost £4 million.

https://www.northamptonchron.co.uk/sport/football/northampton-town-accounts-201819-released-chairman-thomas-pleased-progress-club-post-reduced-losses-2523540

https://beta.companieshouse.gov.uk/company/00183917/filing-history

[Deepcut Cobbler]

How does our loss compare to other football clubs in the bottom two divisions?

[CobblerForever]

There is of course insufficient information contained in the published financial statements to get to the real story of these losses. Staggering the club were still losing over £30k per week. We must have been paying way over the top for some mediocre talent.

In a season the gates held up well.

I honestly don't see how the figures would have been much better had we stayed in League One. No way were we anything other than a struggling side in that league with very little capacity for taking advantage of big gates when the likes of Sunderland visit.

[GrangeParkCobbler]

How does our loss compare to other football clubs in the bottom two divisions?

It is hard to tell the full story when you are looking at abridged accounts, accounts for small companies etc, most don't list turnover at all, just show profit and loss and balance sheets.

Bradford have current liabilities of £2.9m, up from £1.25m the year before, and their P&L figure has gone up from £2.3m to £4.1m suggesting a loss of around £1.8m in the year to June 2019.

Cambridge have not filed accounts for 2019 yet. Their loss in 2018 was £834,830 against a loss of £882,691 in 2017.

Carlisle United actually file full accounts, and for the year to June 19 they recorded an operating loss of £743,000 against a loss of £950,000 in 2018.

Cheltenham Town seem to have reduced their P&L deficit slightly from £2.25m in 2018 to £2.18m in 2019

Colchester United P&L account shows them to be a staggering £29.09m in the red, thats up from £26.7m in 2018, crudely suggesting a loss of £2.3m in the year.

Crawley Town have not yet filed accounts for 2019, but their 2018 accounts showed they made a profit of £7,671 for the year against a loss of £272,333 the previous season. Also interesting is that they list their turnover in the accounts, and even a small club like them recorded a turnover of £2.983m for the year.

Crewe Alex recorded a turnover of £3.196m for the year to 2019, thats down from just over £4m in 2018. They recorded a loss of £1.146m for the year.

Exeters balance sheet suggests a loss of around £600,000 for the year, however they still have a surplus on the sheet of £1.98m.

Forest Green Rovers recorded a loss for the season of £785,000 on turnover of £5.052m

Grimsby Towns turnover was only £3.574m for the year, although that was some 400k up on the previous year. Their accounts showed they made a profit of £150,000 for the year, this led to a reduction in their overall accumulated losses to £2.947m

Leyton Orient made a loss of £2.7m for the year, their underlying losses are up from £9.1m in 2018 to £11.8m in 2019.

Macclesfield have not filed any accounts for 2019! 2018 showed them some £4.2m in the red, owed to shareholders.

Mansfield file up to December each year, and as at December 2018 they were also around £3.86m in the red.

Morecambe are yet to file accounts for 2019, they recorded a loss of £451,923 in 2018, that followed up on a loss of £378,159 in 2017. Their turnover for 2018 was £2.8m

Newport County...unable to find any filings for this company.

Oldhams liabilities reduced from £9.3m to £3.7m in 2018 following a large write off to a director, they are yet to file accounts for 2019

Plymouth lost around £1.3m in 2018, their accounting year ended in December but they are switching to June from 2019 onwards.

Port Vales accounts seem to show a director loan to balance losses of just over £1m for the year to June 2019.

Salford City show a £3.3m hike in their profit and loss account for 2019, showing liabilities now of over £5.6m of which £5.4m is owed to group undertakings (directors)

Sc***horpe United lost £3.064m in the year to June 2019, this was lower than the £4.28m loss in 2018, and the 2019 figure is on a turnover of £3.7m for the year. They are a total of £11.3m in debt to their group undertakings. They file full accounts, and it is telling they they banked less than £1m in the year from ticket sales and gate receipts, their main income was from the League central distribution (solidarity and TV deal) which brought in £1.5m

Stevenage appear to have reduced their overall loss from £2.8m to £2.67m over the year, suggesting a small profit was made over the season.

Swindon Town recorded a loss of £1.7m for the year to 2019, their P&L deficit now stands at £12.93m

Walsall recorded a trading profit of £19,000 for the year to May 2019, this followed a profit of £9,000 for the previous year. Turnover for 2019 was £6.68m

[Deepcut Cobbler]

Thanks GPC.
I'm nowhere near an expert, but looking at the figures and comments you have posted which is all I am commenting on;
It looks like the majority, if not all, have been able to reduce their losses from the previous accounting periods?
Notwithstanding the current difficulties, we may all have been heading for another reduction in losses for this period, which is obviously going in the right direction. Have clubs been making a conscious effort to operate within their means?  Has FFP (if that affects us?) had an effect?
However, I would anticipate that this current crisis will be a major setback in that particular trend for all clubs.

[GrangeParkCobbler]

Updated to include all League 2 clubs now.

Cheltenham, Grimsby, Stevenage and Walsall all look to have recorded profits, the rest of us made losses.

[CobblerForever]

Impressive work GPC.

Carlisle United deserve enormous credit for publishing that level of detail (there are one or two more things I'd like to see - a Detailed Trading account line by line and employee costs in bands of £10k for example). For anyone interested in the detail of the financials at our level this is a first class place to start.

[Melbourne Cobbler]

A start would be an obligation to publish full accounts as a condition of league membership? Full transparency and accountability should be a must? My view is the current mean trading performance is catastrophic, I can’t emphasise this point enough? This situation is at the heart of all my comments around the other issues we are all arguing about? Anyone who can’t see what’s eventually in store for most clubs must be on drugs? The best analogy I can think of is that it seems to me that most football supporters are like all those people flocking to the beach on a nice sunny day in Jaws, closing their eyes to the horror that awaits? Come to think of it most chairman and especially Rick Parry are exactly like the town mayor?

[CobblerForever]

MC - Agreed. Utterly unsustainable. They are living in Cloud Cuckoo Land on Sugar Candy Mountain.

[Deepcut Cobbler]

A start would be an obligation to publish full accounts as a condition of league membership? Full transparency and accountability should be a must? My view is the current mean trading performance is catastrophic, I can’t emphasise this point enough? This situation is at the heart of all my comments around the other issues we are all arguing about? Anyone who can’t see what’s eventually in store for most clubs must be on drugs? The best analogy I can think of is that it seems to me that most football supporters are like all those people flocking to the beach on a nice sunny day in Jaws, closing their eyes to the horror that awaits? Come to think of it most chairman and especially Rick Parry are exactly like the town mayor?

Agreed, but that is the sport of football at all levels.
Continuing to live on the never never, no other business would get away with it would it?

[Melbourne Cobbler]

Agreed, but that is the sport of football at all levels.
Continuing to live on the never never, no other business would get away with it would it?

Neither will this lot DC it’s only a matter of time? It’s a bit like pyramid selling or a Ponzi scheme. One by one chairman eventually run out of cash and sooner or later there will be no one left willing or able to step in. It’s only a matter of time? We only got away with it by the skin of our teeth last time, and what do you think the current owners would do if they had their time over again? The one question I would ask KT is do you regret buying the club and if not why not? Perhaps that’s 2 questions?

[Vintage Cobbler]

The latest accounts make for grim reading despite the efforts of the club to put a positive spin on the reduction in the operating loss.  I don’t think the latest financials are anything that we didn’t expect but this was the position as at 30 June 2019.  Since then we have COVID-19 and the impact of this is going to be extremely severe throughout the EFL. 

I agree with MC that football clubs should publish full accounts. Someone mentioned Carlisle Utd.  AFC Wimbledon are also an example of transparency and are to be praised. It is difficult to analyse NTFC’s accounts in any great detail which allows KT to get away with his usual gloss supported by a low standard local media which simply repeats what he puts out without any questions.  KT has been allowed to present an operating loss of £1.6 million as a positive!  The economics of the madhouse at work.  The Chronicle  and BBC Northampton are woeful.

As a club we have for some time been back where we were in the Cardozo era heavily indebted to owners and unsustainable without their support.  Again, I agree with MC on this but where we disagree is concerning the ownership model.  As for Rick Parry who thinks the Premier League should not be called on for any financial support to the EFL clubs from its £1.5 billion of cash reserves he ought to be shown the door and quickly. 

[singcobb]

Anyone who is a shareholder in the club has a right to see the full accounts, not just the statement of accounts. However you would be legally bound not to disclose those accounts to anyone else.

[Melbourne Cobbler]

The latest accounts make for grim reading despite the efforts of the club to put a positive spin on the reduction in the operating loss.  I don’t think the latest financials are anything that we didn’t expect but this was the position as at 30 June 2019.  Since then we have COVID-19 and the impact of this is going to be extremely severe throughout the EFL. 

I agree with MC that football clubs should publish full accounts. Someone mentioned Carlisle Utd.  AFC Wimbledon are also an example of transparency and are to be praised. It is difficult to analyse NTFC’s accounts in any great detail which allows KT to get away with his usual gloss supported by a low standard local media which simply repeats what he puts out without any questions.  KT has been allowed to present an operating loss of £1.6 million as a positive!  The economics of the madhouse at work.  The Chronicle  and BBC Northampton are woeful.

As a club we have for some time been back where we were in the Cardozo era heavily indebted to owners and unsustainable without their support.  Again, I agree with MC on this but where we disagree is concerning the ownership model.  As for Rick Parry who thinks the Premier League should not be called on for any financial support to the EFL clubs from its £1.5 billion of cash reserves he ought to be shown the door and quickly. 

I don't know if do disagree on the ownership model too much VC? Whilst admittedly having a number of reservations, I am keen on fan ownership model myself. Particularly the German one.

[Vintage Cobbler]

Good to hear it, MC.  It is the German model i much prefer although I can see it may have to be preceded for, hopefully, a short period  by a 100% community owned model depending on the circumstances at the time. 

[Terryfenwickatemyhamster]

The devil finds work for idle hands..

[Manwork04]

The devil finds work for idle hands..

That made me chuckle 

[guest48]

The devil finds work for idle hands..

Don't be so hard on yourself Nigel 

[Terryfenwickatemyhamster]

Don't be so hard on yourself Nigel 

Healthcare keyworker here mate... Far from idle at the moment. 

All joking aside. I do think it would be an appropriate time for a truce. By all means continue hostilities after this awful hiatus. But it would show a degree of class not to pour petrol on things at the moment.

[everbrite]

Healthcare keyworker here mate... Far from idle at the moment. 

All joking aside. I do think it would be an appropriate time for a truce. By all means continue hostilities after this awful hiatus. But it would show a degree of class not to pour petrol on things at the moment.

At the slightest opportunity a 'few' take the opportunity to come out with 'clever' comments.
One member has clearly done well and posted L2 clubs financial results which is interesting but does not resolve our issues. It could do without a disparaging opening remark " The Chairman declares himself pleased that the club only made a loss of £1.67m in the year ending to June 2019". Most of us know and understand the current situation but it maybe unwise to share the same platform just yet. Perhaps we need a trained/professional accountant to comment on some of the L2 financial statements detailed?