Warwickshire Announce Operating Profit

Warwickshire Announce Operating Profit

Tim Bresnan walks past the new stand at Edgbaston during last summer's Test against India.

©REUTERS / Action Images

Warwickshire CCC have announced an operating profit of over £300,000 for the year ended 30^th September 2011. This compares to a £2.1 million loss in 2010.

The main reason for the sudden turnaround is the completion of the £32 million redevelopment work at the historic ground, which has improved capacity to 25,000, but caused reduced capacity in 2010 during the construction phase. Overall the club recorded a combined attendance figure of 110,000 for the Test match against India and Friends Life t20 Finals Day last season – a figure that resulted in a year-on-year increase in turnover of 50%.

On top of their Major Match success, the club was able to announce that it has, “reinvigorated its hospitality and events business by creating a joint-venture company, Edgbaston Experience Limited, with its long-standing catering partner Compass Group, for the operation of its new conference, banqueting, wedding, and exhibition facilities.”

Craig Flindall, Finance Director of Warwickshire County Cricket Club, said: “The redevelopment is an essential part of creating a more rounded and robust business model and has already shown to be paying dividends for the club after it was opened on schedule for the India Test Match in August.”

These conferencing facilities are something that the club will have to rely on more heavily in the next three seasons after missing out on their expected allocation of international matches, including prestigious Test matches against Australia and India. They still hope that they will be allocated five matches in the 2013 Champions Trophy, due to be held in England, but negotiations with the ECB are ongoing.

Commenting on the club’s financial performance, chairman Norman Gascoigne said, “Am I satisfied with the performance for the year that ended September 30 2011? Yes. Has it left us with work to do in the coming years? Yes.

“But on the assumption that we get final confirmation that the Champions Trophy delivers what we think it is going to deliver, that takes care of 2013. Then we have got 2014 to think about. But we have opportunities on the conferencing and banqueting side to drive that even harder and go some way towards filling the gap.”

Whether Warwickshire’s financial uncertainty  ̶  which it must be stressed is nowhere near as bad as many other county clubs  ̶  affects their on-field performance in the coming seasons by way of restricting Director of Cricket Ashley Giles’ playing budget remains to be seen, but is has already resulted in them having to lower their original bullish offer for former Leicestershire batsman James Taylor which resulted in him moving to Nottinghamshire instead.

© Cricket World 2012