21/22 Financial Statements Submitted
The club has today (Thursday, 29 September) filed its financial statements for the year ended 30 June 2022 at Companies House.
The report outlines the club’s financial position as of 30 June 2022 and covers the 21/22 season in Sky Bet League One.
In line with our club Value of Transparency, Argyle Head of Finance, David Ray, writes to members of the Green Army to provide context, and explain what the report means for Argyle’s overall financial health.
You can also view the submitted report, in full, by clicking here. Please note that the submission may take up to a couple of working days to be processed and appear on the Companies House website.
We have made every effort to publish accounts as quickly as possible. Today’s submission at Companies House is over six months earlier than required. We recognise that financial information is most useful when it is provided in a timely and understandable manner. Most importantly, it is important to us that Argyle fans understand their club’s financial position and strategic direction. We hope this report and accompanying explanation help achieve that goal.
I will now review each of these four statements in turn.
Highest revenue in the club's history
Turnover in the year was £11.3m – the highest the club has ever achieved and 73% greater than the revenue generated in the 17/18 season, when Argyle finished in the same league position. This confirms that our strategy of investing in the right areas is helping the club grow its base of supporters and revenues.
As you can see, the largest proportion of our income came from ticket sales, at £3.9m compared to £2.6m in 17/18 (a 51% increase).
We received £0.4m from the game against the then European Champions, Chelsea, in the Emirates FA Cup. Nevertheless, the main driver behind the increase in ticket revenue is the fantastic support of the Green Army. The average attendance at Home Park was an impressive 13,130 during 21/22, compared to 10,413 back in 17/18. This coincided with improvements to fan experience at Home Park and also the first full season using the Mayflower Grandstand.
Our successful FA Cup run boosted football distributions, with £0.2m generated from competition prize money.
As noted above, we saw the first full season of operation of the refurbished Mayflower Grandstand. This helped us on match and non-match days. We had a packed-out Club Argyle, which, together with the kiosks, generated £1.2m of income over the course of the season. We also generated £0.7m of income from non-match day events, while also supporting the NHS as a vaccination centre.
The success of Home Park as a venue is only going to grow in 22-23 as the impact of COVID-19 reduces, and we look forward to hosting large concerts, such as that by Muse, in May 2023.
The Argyle Superstore and online retail also generated record sales of £1.2m - nearly £0.5m (62%) more revenue than in the 2017/18 season. This was helped by improved online operations and new product lines that we have seen everyone wearing around Home Park.
Argyle TV launched and in its first year of operation generated £0.4m of net income. New and improved content will deliver continued growth in this area.
Sponsorship income also continues to rise and will be supported by the addition of the big screen at Home Park.
“Other Income”, in addition to the record level of revenue of £11.3m, is mostly represented by compensation received following the departures of our then first team manager, Ryan Lowe, and of one of our Academy prospects.
Minor loss made, but operating sustainably
This income enabled us to increase the amount invested in player wages – an increase that was reflected in performances on the pitch, with the team narrowly missing out on a spot in the League One play-offs despite amassing 80 points. The club strategy continues to be funding further year on year improvements to the first team in a sustainable fashion, by allocating some of the increased turnover and profitability into the playing budget.
A surplus of approximately £0.7m was generated from operations (including the other income referred to above), which was allocated to infrastructure investments.
However, non-cash accounting adjustments relating to the Mayflower Grandstand resulted in us reporting a £0.2m loss in the year. These adjustments are what's referred to as depreciation and amortisation.
Depreciation and amortisation, in its simplest terms, is an accounting acknowledgment that the value of club assets decreases over the course of their functional lifetime, and depreciation and amortisation spreads that cost evenly throughout each financial year. This is not cause for alarm.
A summary of expenditure is shown below.
Cash balance
Our cash balance remained stable at £6.8m, despite significant investments in and around Home Park, including the new floodlights, enhanced signage, improved car park, energy efficiency projects and much more.
Continued investment in infrastructure
There remains a clear intent to continue pursuing investment to benefit Argyle in the long term. We recognise that our healthy cash reserves will provide only some of the funding for the infrastructure projects that will support our longer-term ambitions.
In August 2022, following the end of the financial year under review, we were delighted to welcome a new group of investors who share our long-term vision – with Argyle Green, LLC acquiring a 20% stake – in exchange for a £4m cash injection directly into the club.
While this does not alter the club strategy, or our overarching Vision and Values, the investment can only strengthen our position and will enable us to finance larger projects that we are confident will deliver long term and substantial benefits to Argyle.
Thank you
We are proud of these results and excited about the future of our club. We thank our supporters, partners, and the wider Argyle community for their valued contributions to another strong year for our club.
