Chief executive Robert Elstone said that the Blues record high wage bill and signing of new players such as Nikica Jelavic, Darron Gibson, Steven Pienaar and Landon Donovan, helped contribute to an upturn on the pitch in 2011/12, but conceded that lower than expected TV revenues and Goodison gates also took their toll on figures contained in their annual results which were released today.
Everton’s £9.1m loss was more than the £5m approximate amount in the previous year’s results, and the club’s overall debt also increased from £44.9m to £46m. However, the results also show savings in other operating expenses – which constitute running Goodison Park, the academy and Finch Farm training ground - falling for the second successive season to £22.7m (2010/11 - £23.6m). Sponsorship revenue showed signs of growth, from £6.8m to £7.1m, and did not include further new partnership agreements made with kit supplier Nike and secondary online ticketing marketplace StubHub which did not fall into the 2011/12 financial year.
Turnover was slightly down on the previous year - £80.5m from £82m – mainly due to four fewer games being picked for live TV and the fall in both gate receipts and season ticket numbers. Yet those crucial revenue generators have since shown signs of recovery in the current financial year with season ticket sales up by 6.4% on the 2011/12 season and most recently, the sale of over 1,000 half season ticket sales. New contracts for players including Marouane Fellaini, Tim Howard, Phil Neville and Ross Barkley added to the four January arrivals saw the club’s total wage bill rise to £63.4m from £58m in 2010/11.
The club’s wages as a percentage of turnover – adding back outsourced catering and retail income – was 75% (2010/11 – 67%). The summer arrivals of Kevin Mirallas, Steven Naismith and Bryan Oviedo are not included in the accounts for this financial year.
The accounts do include the costs of signing loan captures Royston Drenthe, Denis Stracqualursi and James McFadden on a short-term deal.
Source: liverpool_echo
