Coventry City Football Club has published the latest set of accounts for the year ended 31 May, 2022.
The accounts for Coventry City Football Club Limited (formerly Otium Entertainment Group Limited) were filed with Companies House on Tuesday morning.
The period of the accounts includes the 2021/22 season when fans were able to return to stadiums following the restrictions of the COVID-19 pandemic, and the Club returned to playing in Coventry after playing at Birmingham City in the 20/21 campaign. The combination of such circumstances make it difficult to give meaningful comparison of figures against the previous year’s accounts.
Since the accounting period, there has subsequently been a takeover of the Club by Doug King, as ratified by the EFL in January 2023, and the Balance Sheet of the Club has improved significantly, with over £31M of existing debt having been converted into equity and the Sky Blues becoming debt free following the takeover.
The Club’s loss after tax for the accounting period increased to £6.712m, from £4.731m in 2021.
The Sky Blues’ turnover increased to £18.087m, having been £11.847m in 2021.
Administrative Costs also increased, from £15.700m in 2021 to £20.541m in 2022.
Meanwhile the Sky Blues wages & salaries reached £15.674m in 2022, an increase from £13.173m in 2021.
The profit on the sale of player registrations decreased to £494k, down from £1.87m in 2021.
The accounts acknowledge that for the team to remain competitive, significant investment is required on an on-going basis in both financial and non-financial terms. It is also stated that ‘this investment needs to be balanced with the most important Board responsibility, which is to maintain a financially secure professional football club.’
There is also mention of the ongoing negotiations for the Sky Blues to continue playing at the Coventry Building Society Arena, stating that they are ‘progressing well’, and adding that “all concerned with the club can look forward to an exciting journey, where the goal as always will be to achieve promotion to the Premier League at the earliest opportunity.”
Finally, the accounts also confirm that future funding requirements will be provided interest free by new owner Doug King via the new parent undertaking CovCityCo, and no further management charges will be incurred (during the year end 2022, £542,819 of management charges were released to profit as exceptional income).