Preston North End announce £9.9m loss as Craig Hemmings details transfer and commercial goals
Craig Hemmings and Peter Ridsdale have weighed in with their thoughts
Details of Preston North End’s accounts for 2023/24 have been published on the club’s website.
Figures are not yet available on the Companies House page for Deepdale PNE Holdings - the parent company of North End. But, numbers have been shared via pnefc.net - with comments from chairman, Craig Hemmings and director, Peter Ridsdale.
It has been confirmed that, for the financial year up to June 30, 2024, the post-tax loss dropped from £12.2million to £9.9m. Turnover went up slightly from £15.6m to £16.9m, with annual shareholder contributions - to cover all operating losses - remaining at c£11m.
It’s also stated that the club’s owners - the Hemmings family - converted outstanding debt/loans of £50m into equity. With the latest Government budget having increased national insurance and minimum wage costs, PNE will need to pay an additional £500,000 per annum as of next April.
On commercial revenue, chairman Hemmings commented: “Whilst ultimately the performance on the pitch is paramount to the club’s ambitions, success off the pitch through our commercial endeavours has a direct effect on the opportunities we will have to improve the playing squad on the pitch.
“The better we do on the pitch, the more commercial income we are able to generate. To reiterate, commercial success off the pitch will directly help develop success on the pitch. We accept that we do not get every decision right, but we are looking at all avenues to drive stronger commercial revenues to help bolster the club.
“As I have mentioned in the past, because we recognise the net income and not the turnover achieved from our commercial and retail divisions, it is often assumed, incorrectly, that our income from these activities is inferior to our close competitors. This is not the case.
“If we were to recognise revenue rather than net income our turnover would increase by about £3m more per annum which would take the income generated by our commercial team in line with or above clubs with similar sized fanbases. Notwithstanding this, we continue to drive our commercial revenues forward.”
He added: “Historically, we had a great deal of success buying and selling players prior to the Covid pandemic and it remains our goal to repeat this philosophy as and when opportunities arise. Because of the huge financial burden caused by Covid, the club needed time to create financial headroom to allow us to speculate on new players.
“The last few transfer windows have seen us begin to instigate this strategy, with an uplift on the number of players we’ve been able to purchase. Every fan will have their own views on types of players or positions we need to fill, but through our coaching and scouting network we believe we have identified a number of players with great long-term potential for the club. As and when opportunities arise, we will seek to maximise this value.”