Premiership finances in precarious state following report
According to a report in The Guardian, the state of finances in the Gallagher Premiership are more precarious than ever.
Per the report, which is using official financial information from Companies House for the 2016/17 season, Wasps boasted the highest turnover for the campaign, raking in £33.4m, although only £16.2m of that came from the sporting side of the business, with the remaining £17.2m coming from alternate sources, such as venue, business and hotel income.
The club’s wage bill of £17m accounted for 51% of their turnover and was the highest in the Premiership that season, contributing to the club making a loss of £3.7m before tax.
Harlequins’ turnover of £20.7m was the second most but again, a high wage bill (£12.6m – second highest in the competition) contributed to a £6.6m loss before tax. The club was heavily reliant on funding by Mosaic Limited, with rugby income accounting for just £6.5m of the £20.7m turnover, that also included a commercial income of £8m and central funding of £6.1m.
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The third highest turnover belonged to Leicester Tigers, who brought in £19.7m. A wage bill of £12m culminated in a £900k loss before tax, although the redevelopment of Welford Road also factored into their expenditure, so the goal of sustainability is not too far from reality for Tigers.
Bath ended up making a loss of £2.6m before tax and leant heavily on owner Bruce Craig, whose loans to the club now fall just shy of £18m. Their turnover stood at £19m, the fourth highest in the competition, whilst their wage bill of £11m was the fifth highest.
Saracens’ financial statements arguably look the most precarious of all, with £47m owed to investors and shareholders and a wage bill of £11.4m meant that even a healthy turnover of £17.8m was not enough to save the club from a pre-tax loss of £2.8m. Like Bath, Saracens’ ownership is willing to forego short-term sustainability in a bid to maximise commercial opportunities and on-field success, hopefully paving the way to long-term sustainability.
One club in perhaps an even more precarious state, given the lack of a benefactor able to subsidise losses, is Worcester Warriors. They made a loss of £8m before tax and their turnover of £10.8m was only the ninth highest in the competition. Furthermore, their wage bill of £11m is the fifth highest in the competition and even exceeds their turnover. They also have £26m in loans from the owner on the books.
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Sale Sharks brought up the rear in the turnover stakes, bringing in just £8.3m for the season, although their wage bill was also the smallest at just £6.5m. This meant that club only ended up making a pre-tax loss of £810k for the season.
Northampton Saints had an encouraging turnover of £16.7m but ended up making a loss for the first time since they became a limited company in 2000, with pre-tax losses of £1.2m. One of the key factors behind the loss was an increase in the wage bill, which stood at £10.7m after investments were made to stop the club’s slide down the table.
Gloucester posted very similar financial results to Northampton, with a loss before tax of £1.2m, too, as well as an identical wage bill of £10.7m. Their turnover was slightly less, at £16m.
A £3m pre-tax loss for Newcastle Falcons was far from ideal. Their turnover (£9.7m) and wage bill (£7.9m) were the 10th highest in the competition. With rising crowd attendances and improved performances on the field, though, Falcons could be looking up in the coming seasons.
The big success story, though, was Exeter Chiefs, who made a profit before tax of £1.1m, thanks to a tightly controlled wage bill of £9.6m and a respectable turnover of £17m. Exeter do have debts of £13m to pay off, but with sensible management, they are currently doing just that.
Unfortunately, there was no financial information on Bristol Bears.
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Comments on RugbyPass
Why cant I watch Rugby games please?
1 Go to commentsBeautiful shot from Finau, end of story. Gutted for Shaun Stevenson though.
4 Go to commentsThe Chiefs definitely didn’t win ugly. They had the superior scrum, a dominant lineout, and their defence was excellent once the Waratahs scored their two tries (thanks to some lucky refereeing calls mind you). They put pressure on the Waratahs lineout throughout the game, and the mind boggles as to why the referee did not award a yellow card or a penalty try against the Waratahs for repeated scrum infringements on their own try line before Narawa’s first try. And the Chiefs were slick with their passing and running angles on attack. It was a dominant performance all round, even with many questionable refereeing decisions.
1 Go to commentsWasnt late. Ref 2 assistants andTMO all saw it so who are you to say it was?
4 Go to commentsAre the Brumbies playing the Blues twice in a row?
4 Go to commentsBig difference from the Saders. Forwards really muscled up and laid a solid platform. Scooter brought some steel and I liked the loosie combination. Newell has been rather disappointing this season but stepped up big time - happy also to see Franks dot down. He should do that more often! Reihana had a good game and there seems to be more flair and invention with him in the saddle. McNicoll plays well from the back and is reliable plus inventive when he joins the line. Keep it up chaps!
3 Go to comments🤦♂️🤣 who cares who’s the best . All I know is the All Blacks have the star coach but have few star players now …
30 Go to commentsJe suis sûr que Farrell est impatient de jouer avec Lopez et Machenaud et d’être entraîné par Collazo… 🤭
1 Go to commentsAn on field red (aka a full red) in SRP must surely carry a bigger suspension than a red card given by the bunker as that carries a 20 minute team punishment. Had Damon Murphy abdicated his responsibility as a ref and issued both Drua players a yellow, which would have been upgraded to a 20 minute red by the bunker, that would have killed Australia and New Zealand’s push for the 20 minute red to be trialled globally from July this year.
11 Go to commentsEver so often you all post a Danny Care story that isn’t the announcement that he has finally re-signed for one more, victory tour season at Quins and I’m just like, “well you fooled me again!” My absolute favorite player ever, we need to make his final year at the Stoop (and Twickers) official already. I know he supposedly snubbed France but I won’t feel better until he signs.
1 Go to commentslate hit what late hit it wasn’t at all late and can clearly see he was committed before the tackle
4 Go to commentsChristian Lio -Willies 2 try perfomance was a standout. As was captain Scott Barrett. Up front was where the boys won it.They are a great team and players. Fantastic Crusaders , you can keep going.
3 Go to commentsI don't know how the locals feel about that? I guess if you call yourselves the Worcester Wasps that might be appease. But really we need more teams in the Premiership in my view so they are not padding it out as they are at the moment. It might curtail so many players going abroad as well
5 Go to commentsNZ 😭😭😭is certainly rivaling England for best whingers cup!😭😭😭 !!!
30 Go to commentsYup. New Zealand won 3 out of 10 world cups played. SA 4 out of 8 attempts 30 Vs 50 per cent.🤔🤔
30 Go to commentsShould've done this years ago. Change Saturday kick off times to around 11am. Up and off and back home before 3pm, limit travel time too. Allows players to actually do something else with their Saturday that's family oriented or being rugby fans they could ‘watch’ pro rugby. Increases crowds etc. How can anyone that enjoys grassroots and pro rugby have to choose between the two on Saturdays?
9 Go to commentsI bet he inspired those supporters just as much.
1 Go to commentsBen Smith Springboks living rent free in his head 😊😂
67 Go to commentsGood to hear he would like to play the game at the highest level, I hadn’t been to sure how much of a motivator that was before now. Sadly he’s probably chosen the rugby club to go to. Try not to worry about all the input about how you should play rugby Joey and just try to emulate what you do on the league field and have fun. You’ll limit your game too much (well not really because he’s a standard athlete like SBW and he’ll still have enough) if you’re trying to make sure you can recycle the ball back etc. On the other hard, you can totally just try and recycle by looking to offload any and everywhere if you’re going to ground 😋
1 Go to commentsThis just proves that theres always a stat and a metric to use to justify your abilities and your success. Ben did it last week by creating an imaginary competition and now you did the same to counter his argument and espouse a new yardstick for success. Why not just use the current one and lets say the Boks have won 4 world cups making them the most successful world cup team. Outside of the world cup the All Blacks are the most successful team winning countless rugby championships and dominating the rankings with high win percentages. Over the last 4 years statistically the Irish are the best having the highest win rate and also having positive records against every tier 1 side. The most successful Northern team in the game has been England with a world cup title and the most six nations titles in history. The AB’s are the most dominant team in history with the highest win rate and 3 world cups. Lets not try to reinvent the wheel. Just be honest about the actual stats and what each team has been good at doing and that will be enough to define their level of success.
30 Go to comments