Annual Accounts made available
Oxford United filed its Annual Accounts for the year ended June 2012 in line with Companies House filing rules.
A full set of statutory accounts will be sent to shareholders as normal in readiness for the AGM. The £750k estimated loss before player transactions reported at the Fans Forum earlier in the season turned out to be slightly higher than anticipated at £780k. Whilst the headline loss figure is £1million, this includes the amalgamation of Youth Development of £150k as detailed in the Directors' Report (previously reported in the Trust Accounts) and a statutory disclosure requirement requested by the Auditors to move £100k of profit on players' contracts to be below the line.
Chairman Ian Lenagan said in the Directors' Report
"In financial terms the Club lost over £1million in the year. Turnover remained consistent with previous years but the cost base increased considerably primarily as a result of significantly higher player costs. The costs increased even more than anticipated at the outset of the season as due to a sequence of pre-season and in-season injuries to key players plus the need to bolster the squad during the season in the bid to reach the play-offs.
"The Club has now amalgamated the Youth Development Department into the Club consistent with our return to the Football League. Previously the Youth section was a separately run organisation but it has now been fully integrated back into the Club and the contribution from the Club during the year of £150k has been included within administration costs. The Board is happy to make this investment in the future of the playing squad and believe that our policy towards the development of young players is the correct one for the long term future of the Club.
"Despite these significant losses, the Board has supported the Club through a challenging year with Woodstock Partners Limited funding the losses incurred during the period. The Board expects the challenges of 2012 to continue for 2013 but as a result of the investments made into the playing squad, youth development and more recently into sports science and performance analytics we are confident that the Club is going in the right direction and that the investments being made will ultimately lead to success."