Financial facts and figures

Last updated : 21 October 2002 By Luke Thornhill
Iron-Bru.net today received a copy of Scunthorpe United's accounts for the year ended 30th June 2002, after an afternoon spent trying to decipher the accountant speak we've tried to give you as good a version of the accounts as we can.

For the last financial year, which covered the whole of last season, Scunthorpe United had an operating loss of £81,139. This is compared to the previous year's loss of £313,209.

The £80K figure however is misleading as chairman Steve Wharton warns in his report which accompanys the report. The club received £200K in a one off payment as a result of ITV Digital going into liquidation, and there was approximately £100K reduced costs for an 11 month period upto June 30th (no, we couldn't figure out why that is exceptional either).

Scunthorpe United's debt has fallen from £867,135 to £630,917.

SUFC had a turnover of £2,117,995. Of this £730K came from paying spectators, with £661K attributed to `league central distribution`.

Revenue from friendlies, the official website and broadcasting deals, match programme, car park, sponsorship amd the Iron Bar all fell. The restauraunt, club shop and matchday catering all increased their revenue.

The club paid out £1,537,572 in wages to staff, though they do not define how much of this went to players as opposed to office/shop staff. They were 49 full-time employees, of which 40 were players or coaching/physio staff. They were 139 part-time staff, of which 105 were `matchday casuals` (stewards, catering, programmes, turnstiles).

The report also details how many shares each director has taken up as part of the new share issue. We have listed each director below, with their old share amount listed in brackets)

J.S Wharton - 80,000 (15,340)
R.Garton - 50,001 (16,094)
J.B.Borrill - 31,383 (13,717)
B.Collen - 65,745 (13,149)
J.A.C.Godfrey - 217,190 (43,438)
C.O.Holland - 50,000 (10,000)

In his chairman's report Steve Wharton briefly mentions the discussions with regards to a possible takeover of the club, the paragraph is repeated word for word below.

I must of course update shareholders on the possible offer for the un-issued shares in your company. So far only a confidential, brief discussion, has taken place, and to date nothing further has been put forward.