By David Owen
December 3 – Stoke City, the Midlands-based Premier League club controlled by bet365, the online gambling company, has reported a second consecutive annual profit. The club, which has become an established top-tier outfit under first Tony Pulis and now Mark Hughes – and which joins Liverpool, Everton and Manchester City in the semi-finals of this season’s Capital One Cup – posted a pre-tax profit of £5.7 million for the year to May 31, up from £3.8 million a year earlier.
This was achieved on turnover a fraction short of £100 million, the vast majority derived from broadcasting rights. With staff costs climbing some 10% to £66.6 million, what enabled the club from England’s Potteries to keep making bottom-line progress was its player-trading record, which generated a profit of £1.7 million, against a £1.2 million loss the previous year.
There looks to be more good news on this score ahead in 2015-16: a note to the accounts indicated that post year-end, the club had raised £14.9 million from the sale of players such as goalkeeper Asmir Begović to Chelsea. Crucially, these had a net book value of just £1.5 million, suggesting a profit of £13.4 million.
The same note stated that the club had bought players, notably Switzerland star Xherdan Shaqiri, valued at an initial total of £26.2 million, suggesting that amortisation is set to rise.
The club has debt of nearly £60 million, but this takes the form of a ‘soft’ intercompany loan. With cash in the bank and in hand rising to £26.2 million, net debt at the year end was £33.2 million, down from £37.8 million.
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