RNS Number:6259T
Charlton Athletic PLC
6 November 2000
CHARLTON ATHLETIC PLC
Charlton Athletic plc - Preliminary Results for the year
ended 30 June 2000
CHAIRMAN'S STATEMENT
Our success in winning the First Division Championship
was tremendously exciting for everyone associated with
the club. It was not easy to bounce back from the
disappointment of relegation, especially as I genuinely
feel that we did not deserve to lose our Premiership
status. I sensed from the very first game there was a
feeling of determination throughout the whole club to
return to the top flight at the first attempt. It is
true to say that we took a carefully calculated financial
risk by maintaining and then improving the first team
squad in order to gain promotion. Consequently, I am
proud of the fact we celebrate the new Millennium as a
Premiership club. As a matter of record, the team
finished in first place accumulating 91 points, which was
a club record.
Our number one priority is to retain our hard-earned
Premiership status. The significant revenues available
from the new television agreement which comes into force
in Summer 2001 and the enhanced commercial opportunities
available in the top division, would help us continue the
development of our club and its commercial
infrastructure.
FINANCIAL HIGHLIGHTS
The 12 months to 30 June 2000 in the First Division
produced a net loss of #2.8 million on turnover of #11.7
million, compared with a net profit of #1.2 million on
turnover of #16.3 million in the previous financial year.
The group incurred a #4.2 million operating loss before
depreciation, net transfer income, amortisation of the
player pool and finance charges. This level of
operating loss, while unsustainable in the long term, was
considered necessary to secure our immediate return to
the Premiership. A substantial proportion of this
related to the costs of gaining promotion including the
bonuses paid to players and other employees.
FINANCIAL HIGHLIGHTS 2000 1999
#m #m
TURNOVER 11.7 16.3
------- -------
Operating profit (loss) before
depreciation, transfer account and (4.2) 3.5
amortisation.
Depreciation (0.5) (0.5)
Net transfer account profits and 2.0 (1.6)
amortisation
Interest charges (0.1) (0.2)
------- -------
Net (loss)/profit before taxation (2.8) 1.2
------- -------
SHAREHOLDERS FUNDS 17.4 16.6
Purchase of players 2.2 3.0
Net proceeds from shares issued in 3.6 3.5
period
Tangible fixed assets 21.7 21.1
Player pool 5.0 5.3
Current insurance value of squad 32.0
ANALYSIS OF TURNOVER 2000 1999
#m #m
Television and broadcast 3.2 6.6
Ticket sales 4.4 5.4
Sponsorship and other match day income 1.6 2.2
Retail and other 1.4 1.3
Match programme 0.5 0.5
Conference and Banqueting 0.6 0.3
------- -------
11.7 16.3
------- -------
Television revenues were significantly lower in Division
One despite the #1.7 million television parachute
payment, in respect of the domestic broadcasting contract
and the #0.5 million payment for the overseas broadcast
contract. Broadcasting facility fees fell from #1.2
million to less than #0.3 million. Ticket prices were
set at realistic levels to encourage supporters to
support us in our bid for promotion, underpinned by a
pledge given that 1998/1999 Premier League standard
prices would be retained for the 2000/1 season should the
club be successful. This policy resulted in the sale of
16,000 season tickets for a stadium with a capacity of
20,043, but saw ticket revenues fall by nearly #1
million.
The exciting football played and the success on the field
brought us high levels of support for every game, the
average crowd being 19,540.
COMMERCIAL ACTIVITY
During our year in the Premier League we attracted a new
core of sponsors, the majority of whom continued their
support in the Nationwide League.
Our existing shirt sponsorship agreement with Mesh
Computers plc was amicably terminated early, to allow us
to sign a new record three-year deal with Redbus, an
investment company specialising in new technology
business. I would like to thank Redbus and chairman
Cliff Stanford for demonstrating their faith in the
future of our club.
Match programme sales were maintained at the previous
year's level due in the main to the popularity of the new
Valley Review and the size of the home support.
In our Conference and Banqueting division we report on
the first full period of operations since the West Stand
was built and revenues have grown strongly. There is
much potential in this side of our business and we will
be looking for expansion during the current financial
period.
The Valley has now been firmly established as a seven-day-
a-week commercial site. The Millennium Fitness Gym has
in excess of 1,000 members, all of whom add to the
customer base for the retail outlets and Floyd's Sports
Bar and Diner. We are pleased to welcome back to The
Valley the London Broncos, who have just completed their
Year 2000 season. Apart from the incremental revenues
derived from the extended use of the stadium, we benefit
from commercial rental income paid to the club.
I would like to thank our kit sponsor, Le Coq Sportif,
Greenwich Council, our club sponsor and Railtrack,
sponsor of the Football in the Community Scheme, for
their continuing support. I also thank the large number
of companies and individuals who continue to support us
in so many ways. Your backing is very much appreciated
and really makes a difference.
FOOTBALL
It is not often a club celebrates winning a league
championship and in our case it took 65 years to repeat
our last such success.
In July 1999 we sold Danny Mills to Leeds Utd for a club
transfer record of #4 million, part of which fee was
payable to Norwich City under the terms of the original
purchase agreement.
These funds were then used to strengthen the squad, in
our search for immediate promotion back to the Premier
League, with the acquisition of Dean Kiely, Greg Shields,
John Salako, Andy Todd and Mathias Svensson, who added
extra quality to an already strong squad.
During the season many records were broken:-
- The team achieved 12 consecutive league victories in
a run stretching from 26th December 1999 to 7th March
2000. The team was unbeaten in 16 consecutive league
matches and both these achievements set new club records.
- Our dramatic 3-2 FA Cup win at Coventry was one of
the highlights of the season and the team went on to
reach the FA Cup Quarter-Final stage losing to Bolton
Wanderers 1-0 at the Reebok stadium. In excess of 3,000
fans travelled to the game and a further 5,600 watched
the match on a giant screen erected on the pitch at The
Valley. This "beam-back" was a success and we intended
to provide this service for our supporters during the
current season, but we have so far been unable to secure
the necessary planning consents.
- The average gate at The Valley was 19,540, which was
the club's highest at the equivalent level since 1957/58
and has been surpassed only twice at that level in the
club's history.
- We secured a record equalling nine home and away
league doubles over opponents.
- Our 12 away league victories with only four away
defeats were both new records.
- We won a record six consecutive away league matches.
- Alan Curbishley became the first manager to steer
our club to the top division on two separate occasions.
- Welsh international John Robinson became the club's
most capped player when he made his 20th appearance for
Wales. He was also voted Welsh Player of the Year at the
Welsh FA awards dinner in October 2000.
We were again able to provide free travel for one match,
rewarding our dedicated travelling supporters. The sight
of 5,200 supporters bedecked in yellow at Nottingham is
something which will live long in my memory.
Our collaboration with Internazionale of Milan continues
to bear fruit with four of our most promising players
from the Under 15 squad spending a week training in
Milan. Two of our most highly rated youth players have
gone to Internazionale for a year to be integrated into
their training set-up and two of their youth players have
joined us. We have instigated a programme of community
projects that commenced this summer with a group of our
local children enjoying a week-long trip to Milan. This
was followed by a party of Italian youngsters enjoying a
week in London, with a trip to the Millennium Dome as a
highlight. The option for Internazionale players to sign
for the club at first-team level remains a realistic one.
At the end of the season we strengthened our first-team
domestic and overseas scouting structure and discussions
are in progress to link with Inter's world-wide scouting
system. We have appointed a Chief Scout whose
responsibility is to organise a network of domestic
scouts and we introduced a new Overseas Scouting Co-
ordinator, who will build on the foundations laid by our
Director of Overseas Recruitment, Bob Whitehand. Their
main goal will be to establish sound scouting structures
abroad which will provide us with information on players
based outside the United Kingdom.
At the same time the directors announced plans to raise
funds from a Placing and Open Offer of shares, earmarked
for player transfers and their associated costs. The
considerable support for the issue from directors,
associate directors, city institutions and supporters
meant that we raised some #5.3 million which, when added
to the increased television revenues available, enabled
us to purchase Claus Jensen, Jonatan Johansson, Radostin
Kishishev and Karim Bagheri. We have already broken by
some margin this season all previous transfer records for
the club.
Our FA Youth Academy continues to develop strongly and it
remains our intention to create the best academy in the
south of England. In July 2000 our Under 15 side won the
prestigious international Milk Cup competition in
Ireland. This has been completely overshadowed by the
death in August of Pierre Bolangi in tragic
circumstances. I am limited in what I can say because of
the police investigation into the matter, but I join with
everyone at the club in sending our sincere condolences
to his family.
Three academy players have been recognised at
international level. Stacy Long (England), Neil
McCafferty (Republic of Ireland) and Osei Sankofa
(England). We have recently applied for planning
permission to construct a new indoor sports hall, which
should ensure we will be granted our full Football
Association licence in August 2001.
During the year we purchased the playing fields adjacent
to our existing training facilities to further develop
the Sparrows Lane training complex. Our objective is to
provide the Youth Academy with the high quality playing
and training facilities which will enable us to develop
quality players within the club.
Alan Curbishley was voted the Manager of the Year for
Division One and also the overall Manager of the Year,
pushing Sir Alex Ferguson into second place. He deserves
enormous credit for securing two promotions in three
seasons and is widely recognised as one of the top
english managers in this country. I would also wish to
acknowledge the important contribution to our success
made by Mervyn Day, Keith Peacock and all the backroom
staff at the training ground.
On the international scene, the club now boasts seven
current full internationals in Karim Bagheri, Claus
Jensen, Jonatan Johansson, Dean Kiely, Mark Kinsella,
Radostin Kishishev and John Robinson. Scott Parker and
Paul Konchesky have been included recently in England
Under 21 squads.
COMMUNITY ACTIVITIES
The club has rightly earned a genuine reputation as a
community club. This means that we try to develop links
at all levels of the local community, providing
employment and recreational and leisure opportunities for
local people.
As part of our relationship with Internazionale, I have
already mentioned that last summer we sent ten local
children to Milan for a week's football coaching and ten
children from Milan then travelled to us. We continue to
support a vast array of community groups through the
donation of club merchandise and other measures and we
contributed to the initiative that allowed hundreds of
children to travel to Margate in a fleet of London taxis.
Many local children continue to benefit from one of the
most progressive community schemes in the country. Only
recently Railtrack, the scheme sponsor, agreed to become
the sponsor of the UK Community Programme because of the
huge success they have had with our scheme. This has led
to a significant decline in the level of vandalism around
railway lines and railway stations. Our support for
Charlton Park School and the Pound Park Scheme are two
projects which are particularly noteworthy.
The Study Support Centre at The Valley has become an
important supplementary educational facility catering for
the needs of local children, and the results of this work
is particularly impressive.
The Charlton Athletic Race Equality Partnership has been
recommended for a national award for its work in tackling
racism. Our Red, White and Black Day last season was the
most successful to date and the various activities were
spread out over a week with some activities broadcast
live on Sky television.
The Charlton Athletic Disabled Supporter's Association
(CADSA) has been formed to provide a forum for disabled
supporters to influence the planning of future disabled
facilities at The Valley, and to provide us with an
understanding of the difficulties faced by disabled
football fans everywhere.
Charlton Athletic is a club working in the community for
the benefit of the community and I would like to
acknowledge the support of our key partners; Greenwich
Council, Greenwich Leisure Ltd and Greenwich Community
College.
PEOPLE
I have always said that people are the key to the success
of any business and I would like particularly to
acknowledge the contribution of all the dedicated and
hard working staff, both at The Valley and the training
ground. The team spirit both on and off the pitch has
been a vital ingredient to our success.
I extend my thanks to Martin Simons and David Sumners for
their work on the Executive Management Board and all our
other directors for their contribution to the work of the
Football Company and PLC Boards. During the year, Roger
Alwen resigned as a director of this company, but I am
delighted he remains as a director of the football club.
I would also like to thank Richard Collins, who chairs
our football club Health and Safety Committee, for
agreeing to assume responsibility for all the vast array
of health and safety issues which the club has had to
address in the past 12 months. His experience in such
matters has been invaluable.
I am delighted that Sir Maurice Hatter, a life-long
supporter, accepted the Board's invitation to become the
Club's Honorary Life President.
I must particularly record my appreciation for the manner
in which Executive Directors Peter Varney and Nigel
Capelin have continued to manage the extraordinary growth
that this club has enjoyed in recent years.
Our supporters displayed tremendous loyalty following our
relegation from the Premier League and our overall home
support actually increased in Division One. They produce
a magnificent atmosphere at The Valley for our home
matches and so many people in football comment to me on
the warm and friendly welcome they receive when they
visit us.
EUROPEAN COMMISSION TRANSFER REVIEW
I continue to be concerned by the threatened intervention
by the European Commission relating to players
registrations in Europe. In response to concerns raised
by the Commission, the football authorities agreed to
establish a package of proposals by 31st October 2000
with a deadline for agreement of the proposals of 31st
December 2000.
The Working Group set by the English football authorities
has played a leading role in the discussions with the
Commission and has articulated the general view of
Premiership clubs that the current transfer system, while
not perfect, does bring stability and order to the
professional game.
It is not clear what new system will evolve but I am
concerned that the financial gap between the rich and the
poor clubs will widen and there will be a significant
level of wage inflation for a small minority of players.
As a consequence, there will be little incentive to
invest in our youth academy and in future, player
contracts may also offer less protection to players who
suffer injury or a loss of form.
Football does have unique and special characteristics and
I hope that, ultimately, this is recognised by the
European Commission.
BRAND DEVELOPMENT
The recent successes which have helped to raise the
national profile of the club, the redevelopment of the
Greenwich Peninsula and the Thames Gateway area and the
increased local interest in the club, all combine to
offer huge potential for further domestic exploitation of
the Charlton brand.
The club now boasts, on the international front, seven
current full internationals from Bulgaria, Denmark, Iran,
Finland, Wales and the Republic of Ireland. This,
coupled with the huge global media coverage of the
Premiership, represents a unique opportunity for us to
recruit and retain supporters from abroad. For this
reason, we intend to continue with the impressive
development of our website to provide information for new
overseas supporters about the club in their own language.
FUTURE PROSPECTS
We now have a formal planning consent for the
construction of nearly 6,000 additional seats at the
north end of the ground, giving us the opportunity to
increase the capacity of The Valley to just under 26,000.
It will be the largest stand in the ground and will link
up to the East and West stands forming a natural
horseshoe which will lead to a significantly enhanced
atmosphere. With the three main stands linked, service
provision and standards will improve on a match day.
This will also cater for the significant London based
demand for match day hospitality in the Premier League
which we cannot currently meet. The Board is currently
closely considering both the appropriate timing and the
financing arrangements for a commitment to this project,
the next major step in turning The Valley into a modern
football arena.
At the same time, the professional game is facing a
period of great uncertainty caused by the impending
European Commission ruling on the existing transfer
system. In my opinion, the existing transfer system is
unlikely to survive in its current form. However, I do
not expect any replacement system to affect existing
contracts and so we have continued to show the cost of
our purchased players in the balance sheet.
The new television deal covering the three years to June
2004 should provide significant additional revenues for
Premier League clubs and therefore retaining our current
status would give a major boost to the ongoing
development of the club. It is, however, essential for
the future of football in this country that there is a
more equitable distribution of television monies amongst
all clubs. Too much financial bias in favour of the
bigger clubs will lead to a less competitive and
therefore less attractive professional game.
The club will continue to pursue ticketing policies which
allow individual supporters and families, especially
those on low incomes, to see top class football at The
Valley. The relationship that we enjoy with our
supporters is something special and we will preserve and
nurture this as I realise that we have something unique
at this club which we must never take for granted.
We continue to be proud of the excellent reputation we
have earned for the responsible way we have rebuilt our
club in recent years. We have, at the same time,
retained the unique culture and strong community links
which the club has always enjoyed. Ongoing success on
the field and the influx of players of international
quality will assist us to develop further the Charlton
Athletic brand. With the continuing commitment of
everyone connected with this club, including our
supporters, I am confident that the progress of recent
years will be maintained.
Richard A Murray
Chairman - Charlton Athletic Plc
6 November 2000
CONSOLIDATED PROFIT AND LOSS ACCOUNT
Year ended Year ended
30 June 30 June
2000 1999
# 000s # 000s
TURNOVER 11,746 16,274
--------- ---------
Cost of sale (2,338) (2,162)
Administrative expenses (1,594) (1,354)
Player and match expenses (12,465) (9,774)
--------- ---------
(16,397) (13,290)
--------- ---------
Operating profit/(loss) before
player transfer fees (4,651) 2,984
Player transfer fees 1,995 (1,590)
--------- ---------
OPERATING LOSS/(PROFIT) (2,656) 1,394
Interest and similar charges (141) (145)
--------- ---------
OPERATING LOSS/(PROFIT) BEFORE
TAXATION (2,797) 1,249
Taxation 0 0
--------- ---------
(LOSS)/PROFIT AFTER TAXATION (2,797) 1,249
========= =========
Earnings per share (7.31)p 3.87p
========= =========
All amounts derive from continuing operations.
There is no difference between the historical cost
profits and losses and the reported results in the profit
and loss account.
Year ended Year ended
30 June 30 June
2000 1999
# 000s # 000s
Profit/(loss) for the year (2,797) 1,249
Unrealised surplus on
revaluation of freehold land and 0 381
buildings
--------- ---------
Total gains and losses (2,797) 1,630
recognised
========= =========
CONSOLIDATED BALANCE SHEET
Year ended Year ended
30 June 30 June
2000 1999
# 000s # 000s
FIXED ASSETS
Intangible 4,951 5,328
Tangible 21,750 21,761
--------- ---------
26,701 27,089
--------- ---------
CURRENT ASSETS
Stocks 218 163
Debtors 3,559 2,241
Cash at bank and in hand 4,586 529
--------- ---------
8,363 2,933
CREDITORS: amounts falling due
within one year (11,110) (6,753)
--------- ---------
NET CURRENT LIABILITIES (2,747) (3,820)
--------- ---------
TOTAL ASSETS LESS CURRENT 23,954 23,269
LIABILITIES
CREDITORS: falling due after
more than one year (2,160) (2,346)
DEFERRED INCOME: (4,359) (4,315)
--------- ---------
17,435 16,608
========= =========
CAPITAL AND RESERVES
Called up share capital 21,329 17,694
Share premium account 1,660 1,671
Revaluation reserve 2,975 2,975
Profit and loss account (8,529) (5,732)
--------- ---------
Shareholder's funds 17,435 16,608
========= =========
Notes:
1 The financial information relating to the Company
does not constitute statutory accounts within the meaning
of Section 240 (5) of the Companies act 1985 (as
amended). Statutory accounts in respect of the year ended
30 June 2000, which received an unqualified audit
opinion, will be filed with the Registrar of Companies in
England and Wales
2 Earnings per ordinary share have been calculated by
dividing the loss for the year by the weighted number of
ordinary shares in issue for the year.
Year ended Year ended
30 June 30 June
2000 #000s 1999 #000s
Profit/(Loss) for the #(2,797) #1,249
year
Weighted number of
shares in issue 38,280,766 32,245,909
(Loss)/Earnings per (7.31) 3.87 pence
share pence
3 The Annual Report and Accounts for the year ended 30
June 2000 will be sent to shareholders in due
course. At that time further copies will be
available from the Company's Nominated Advisor and
Broker, Teather & Greenwood Limited, Beaufort House,
15 St Botolph Street, London EC3A 7QR.
Gx Cloudcomp (LSE:CLO)
Historical Stock Chart
From Jun 2024 to Jul 2024
Gx Cloudcomp (LSE:CLO)
Historical Stock Chart
From Jul 2023 to Jul 2024
