2018/9 - Accounts
City's 2018/9 accounts, filed on March 25 2020 at Companies House, once again did not include a profit and loss sheet. It is not a statutory requirement but can be useful to better understand income and expenditure.
About the only numbers relating to the 2018/9 accounts are the number of employees, net liabilities and JMP loans.
There was an average of 51 employees (players, management and office) compared to 70 a year earlier. It is not an unreasonable number given the playing squad, including youth team, and is largely reflective of less player turnover than recent years.
The accounts approved by the YCFC board on 27th February 2020 contained a statement that "the directors have a reasonable expectation that the company has adequate resources available to continue in operational existence for the foreseeable future although this ability is entirely dependent upon financial support being maintained by the Parent Company, JMP Packaging Limited, who have provided an assurance that funding will be made available for 12 months from the date on which these financial statements are signed".
The accounts state:
The accounts also note:
In very round terms, with net liabilities increasing by £1.5m (to £7.007m), interest payable to JMP being around £642k (£560k + £82k), one could assume the difference, approx £860k is the operating (day to day) loss during the 2018/9 financial year (to June 30 2019). Note, both the amount owed to JM Packaging and net YCFC liabilities both increased by about £1.5m.
In comparision, Harrogate Town had a £1.214m turnover (and £6,718 loss on the year). Turnover was up from £728k in their first season in National League.
HOPEFULLY COMING SOON (but as of July 25 HOPEFULLY COMING SOON (dd mmm): York Press article, but instead read
2017/8 accounts Further information can be gleamed from accounts filed at Companies House, YCFC, Bootham Crescent Holdings and JMP. Further information can be gleamed from the JM Packaging accounts. Their 2018/9 accounts showed the following:
Health Warning: This analysis is provided by a layman with no accountancy training / experience but with an eye for numbers. However, someone with a bit more training noted, "The accounts (YCFC) do not make good reading and no bank would ordinarily lend to a business in this shape. Accumulated losses are £9.3m, of which around £5.23m has been lost in the last 5 years - £723k in the 12 months to 30th June 2015, £712k to June 2016, £969k to June 2017, £1.3m to June 2018 and £1.525m to 30 June 2019. The only real asset in the club is its investment in Bootham Crescent Holdings, which owns the ground. The club owes £2.4m to the Football Stadia Improvement Fund (it looks like interest is not being paid on this loan but is being added to the debt) and £8.5m to "group undertakings", of which £8.1m is due to JM Packaging. The accounts state that the club's ability to continue to operate is entirely dependant upon financial support being maintained by the parent company (JMP) and in June 19 an assurance was given that this funding would be made available for the next 12 months - this is "standard" subsidiary support wording and I suspect that the 2020 accounts, once published, will contain a similar assurance. The only way, as I see it, is that these debts can only be repaid from the sale of the ground. The big unknown is how much is Bootham Crescent worth - whilst stated in the BCH Hldgs accounts to be £4.5m, it will not be possible to accurately assess its value until the details of the planning approval are known. However from any proceeds will have to be deducted the loan we took out when we purchased the ground, the obligations we have to York City Council in respect of Monks Cross (YCC also have a charge over the ground) and JMP. Interestingly there is also an obligation to repay former directors (Messrs Craig, Swallow and Webb) - amount £122,424. It is not stated how much our obligations are to YCC. There has been speculation that JMP are charging us an astronomical interest rate on the amount we owe them - £650k is charged at 11% (which is, in my opinion, somewhat high) and 6% in respect of the balance (whilst high, given the nature of the finance, it is not extortionate - many profitable businesses pay their banks 3 or 4 per cent above base rate for their loans and overdrafts). Being a "small company" the club do not have to include a copy of the profit and loss account, which precludes me from being able to undertake any further in depth analysis. My own personal view is that the sale proceeds of Bootham Crescent will not be sufficient to see all our debts repaid. Whilst I have never met Jason McGill I think we all need to be grateful for his ongoing financial support. Once the ground is sold a business plan needs formulating to aim to get the club on a more stable financial footing. A non-league club, close to where I live, was similarly funded by its chairman. Sadly he died unexpectedly and upon his death his family refused to continue with the financial support, leading to the near demise of the football club."
