Source: Northern_Echo
Sunderland report £27m loss in latest accounts
SUNDERLAND'S latest set of accounts have revealed a pre-tax loss of £27.9m, and a wages-to-turnover ratio of more than 70 per cent.[LNB] The annual report and financial statements of Sunderland Limited for the year ending July 31, 2010 show losses rose by £1.4m on the previous 12 months.[LNB] Turnover increased from £64.6m to £65.4m, but the club's investment in the playing squad in a bid to retain its Premier League status pushed it further into the red.[LNB] Gross transfer fees of £28m, excluding wages, were committed during the reporting period, although neither a club record £13m swoop for striker Asamoah Gyan nor the £24m sale of Darren Bent were included in the figures.[LNB] A loan of £19m from owner Ellis Short was capitalised - or transferred into shares - in November 2009, and the Texan has since injected interest free-loans of £22.4m and £6m and promised his continued support.[LNB] Wages accounted for £46.63m, a rise of £2.5m on the previous year. Alarmingly, wages now account for 71.2 per cent of Sunderland's total turnover, way above the industry's accepted optimal figure of no more than 50 per cent.[LNB] Directors were paid a total of £1.12m, a fall of £821,000, and the highest-paid director - who is not named in the report - collected £325,678, down from £888,142.[LNB] Chairman Niall Quinn has recently criticised supporters who choose to watch the clubs home games via illegal broadcasts in the city's pubs, and the accounts show that gate receipts fell from £13.88m in 2009 to £12.6m during the reporting period. However, television and media payments increased by almost £4m.[LNB] The report says: "The directors consider the major risk of the business to be a significant period of absence from the FA Premier League. Ongoing investment in the playing squad aims to reduce this risk."[LNB] Survival this season is already all but assured, with Sunderland currently sitting in seventh position in the Premier League table.[LNB]
