By David Owen
March 16 – Watford, the Premier League club based in London commuter-land and controlled by Gino Pozzo, has announced a modest advance in annual pre-tax profit from £3.6 million to £4 million.
The club, known as the Hornets, generated turnover of £123.9 million, up almost £30 million. With the operating loss for the year to 30 June 2017 weighing in at £14.8 million, the overall profit was attributable to a £22 million-plus gain on the sale of players. Those offloaded included former striker Odion Ighalo, who moved to China in January 2017.
Salary costs jumped from just under £58 million to £76 million, with player salary costs accounting for £62.4 million of this total. Directors’ remuneration more than doubled to £570,933. The vast majority of this went to the highest-paid director, who received £553,333, up from £245,000. Pozzo himself appears to have been paid a salary of £30,500 by the club.
There were termination benefits of £1.2 million paid to nine ex-employees. The accounts explain that the salary of these employees was contractually due to be paid until they found alternative employment. Separately, it is mentioned that the employment contracts of eight of these ex-employees had an expiry date of June 2019. Though the individuals are not named, this appears to coincide with the contract term of former head coach Walter Mazzarri. The Italian and his team were in situ at Vicarage Road throughout the 2016-17 season. He has since been appointed manager of Torino.
There was a jump from £18 million to £88.5 million in the club’s long-term creditors, with loans from group undertakings more than doubling to £45.5 million. The accounts detail various loans from its immediate parent company, Hornets Investment Limited, with the largest – for £40 million – attracting interest of 6% above LIBOR.
The accounts note, furthermore, that since the year-end, this loan has been increased to £55 million, with the club entering into a separate agreement with Hornets Investment to borrow an additional £20 million.
More than £13 million was paid during the year to Italy’s Udinese Calcio, “a company under common control”, in respect of transfer and sell-on fees.
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