Surrey CCC make pre-tax profit – for ninth year in a row

BY MARCUS HOOK

Surrey County Cricket Club have reported a pre-tax profit – their ninth in successive years – with the members-owned club making £2.8million (before tax) on a turnover of £31.7m in the 12 months to January 31.

Surrey are licking their lips this summer at the prospect of an £8.5m sales boost from the Ashes and Cricket World Cup.

The reigning county champions anticipate a 30 per cent rise in turnover, from £31.7m to £41m, thanks to the showpiece sporting events – putting them on course for record profits.

The Oval will host the final Ashes test in mid-September, five one-day international World Cup matches as well as seven domestic T20 games, which, alone, are worth £6m to the club in turnover.

“This is going to be the biggest summer of cricket ever for us. We’ve never had the Ashes, World Cup and Surrey as defending champions,” said chief executive Richard Gould.

“County Championship clubs sometimes get stick for their brand being old fashioned, but we play in front of sell-out Twenty20 crowds, membership is very strong (nearly 13,000 and up from 7,000 in 2012) and we think there is a lot of strength in these brands.”

But the South London club would have made a loss without its conferencing wing, Oval Events, which made £5m profit on a turnover of £15.4m last year.

The surplus will be ploughed back into the One Oval Square development, which is due to start in October.

Gould added: “This development will allow us to increase the capacity of the ground to nearly 28,000 and the One Oval Square development will hugely improve the facilities available for holding conferences and events at the ground.”