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Cardiff City have recorded a £30m loss in their latest set of financial accounts to take their overall level of debt to £118m, with £66m owed to owner Vincent Tan
Cardiff City have recorded a £30m loss in their latest set of financial accounts to take their overall level of debt to £118m.
Within the figures, £66m is owed to owner Vincent Tan from loans to the club, despite the Malaysian businessman converting £2.5m into shares and writing off £5m in interest owed.
Meanwhile the accounts, for the financial period up to May last year, also show life president Sam Hammam’s Langston was paid £22m to solve the historic debt it was owed.
That includes a one-off payment of £15m and further non-interest bearing payments of £7m over a seven-year period.
It is roughly £11m less than what could have been paid given £9m stadium naming rights and a £5m one-off payment for promotion to the Premier League.
Meanwhile roughly £2.5m was paid in June 2013 to clear monies owed to the Cayman Island based Player Finance fund.
Other losses are explained in the accounts for a variety of reasons.
There was a reduction in revenue from £20m in 2012 to just over £17m in 2013.
Added to that, the club’s wages and salaries jumped from £18.5m in 2012 to touching £30m in 2013.
This rise was partly explained as the club “incurred significant bonus payments in relation to its promotion to he Barclays Premier League”.
Also a significant portion of the losses come from a jump of £13m in cost of sales and a massive £8m jump in administration costs.
Cardiff City Supporters Trust board member and accountant Keith Morgan said: “It is worrying, yes.
“What it doesn’t explain is where all the increases come from and why non-footballing costs have gone up so hugely.
“Administration doesn’t include players’ wages so why the hell have they gone up from £7m to £15m?
“It doesn’t explain anywhere in the notes why the non-footballing costs have just about doubled.
“It is still the same stadium as it was before, still the same number of stadium staff so what is in there?
Mr Morgan added Premier League football and Sky television money worth £61m did mean income would likely be vastly more than what they were used to and probably above £80m.
In the report accompanying the accounts, chief executive Simon Lim said £12m spent on players two summers ago had been justified with promotion to the Premier League.
Mr Lim added they had trusted ex-manager Malky Mackay’s judgement in spending £35m again last summer.
He said: “Our aim has always been to see the football club playing in the Barclays Premier League and in winning promotion last year from the npower Championship as champions our plans and investments have been vindicated.
“For life in the Barclays Premier League we were aware that we needed to again invest in strengthening the playing squad but that we needed to spend wisely.
“Our aim was to bring in quality players who added to the strengths we already had in the team and we trusted our manager Malky Mackay fully to make the best judgement on how we achieved this goal.
“Indeed in signing an additional eight established professional players costing the football club in excess of £35m we now believe we have a squad of players and management team experienced enough to make Cardiff City a competitive and stable team in the Barclays Premier League.”
http://www.walesonline.co.uk/sport/cardiff-city-debt-reaches-118million-6497122
Cardiff City have recorded a £30m loss in their latest set of financial accounts to take their overall level of debt to £118m.
Within the figures, £66m is owed to owner Vincent Tan from loans to the club, despite the Malaysian businessman converting £2.5m into shares and writing off £5m in interest owed.
Meanwhile the accounts, for the financial period up to May last year, also show life president Sam Hammam’s Langston was paid £22m to solve the historic debt it was owed.
That includes a one-off payment of £15m and further non-interest bearing payments of £7m over a seven-year period.
It is roughly £11m less than what could have been paid given £9m stadium naming rights and a £5m one-off payment for promotion to the Premier League.
Meanwhile roughly £2.5m was paid in June 2013 to clear monies owed to the Cayman Island based Player Finance fund.
Other losses are explained in the accounts for a variety of reasons.
There was a reduction in revenue from £20m in 2012 to just over £17m in 2013.
Added to that, the club’s wages and salaries jumped from £18.5m in 2012 to touching £30m in 2013.
This rise was partly explained as the club “incurred significant bonus payments in relation to its promotion to he Barclays Premier League”.
Also a significant portion of the losses come from a jump of £13m in cost of sales and a massive £8m jump in administration costs.
Cardiff City Supporters Trust board member and accountant Keith Morgan said: “It is worrying, yes.
“What it doesn’t explain is where all the increases come from and why non-footballing costs have gone up so hugely.
“Administration doesn’t include players’ wages so why the hell have they gone up from £7m to £15m?
“It doesn’t explain anywhere in the notes why the non-footballing costs have just about doubled.
“It is still the same stadium as it was before, still the same number of stadium staff so what is in there?
Mr Morgan added Premier League football and Sky television money worth £61m did mean income would likely be vastly more than what they were used to and probably above £80m.
In the report accompanying the accounts, chief executive Simon Lim said £12m spent on players two summers ago had been justified with promotion to the Premier League.
Mr Lim added they had trusted ex-manager Malky Mackay’s judgement in spending £35m again last summer.
He said: “Our aim has always been to see the football club playing in the Barclays Premier League and in winning promotion last year from the npower Championship as champions our plans and investments have been vindicated.
“For life in the Barclays Premier League we were aware that we needed to again invest in strengthening the playing squad but that we needed to spend wisely.
“Our aim was to bring in quality players who added to the strengths we already had in the team and we trusted our manager Malky Mackay fully to make the best judgement on how we achieved this goal.
“Indeed in signing an additional eight established professional players costing the football club in excess of £35m we now believe we have a squad of players and management team experienced enough to make Cardiff City a competitive and stable team in the Barclays Premier League.”
http://www.walesonline.co.uk/sport/cardiff-city-debt-reaches-118million-6497122