Following a challenging season on the pitch, resulting in a 21st place finish in Sky Bet League Two, the Club today announced a loss of £1.68m for year ending 31st May 2024.

After significant income generated in previous years from the play-off promotion and FA Cup run, income returned to more usual levels in the 2023-24 season. The record-breaking FA Cup run the previous year had generated significant additional revenue from prize money, shared gate receipts and TV rights and it meant that there was a decrease in turnover of £1.09m to £5.72m.

Compared to the previous year, there was further investment into salaries and wages. This included both playing budget and back-office support, often the unseen engine of football clubs, who work tirelessly to ensure that the players and management can focus on what they do best. The pro budget was closely monitored to make sure the Club is run in a sustainable way whilst seeking to ensure the team was competitive in the league.

Player trading profits were consistent with the previous year with income received from both the sale of players and receipts of contingent fees via sell on clauses. Amongst the contributions to the £291k of football fortune revenue in the year was proceeds from the sale of Kamil Conteh to Bristol Rovers and a sell-on fee from Peterborough United for the onward sale of Siriki Dembele to AFC Bournemouth.

Much of this was ploughed back into the playing squad with £213k invested in incoming transfer fees.

The Club continues to support the development of young players and invested £138k into the youth set up on top of the grants and donations received which combined totalled £499k.

Investment in Blundell Park and the training ground continue with £333k capitalised investments during the year.  This is in addition to the £335k of repair and maintenance costs included in the profit and loss account.

The accounts do not reflect the conversion of £2.7m of debt to ordinary shares by 1878 Partners Limited (the investment company set up by Andrew Pettit and Jason Stockwood to hold shares in the company) which happened after the financial year end.

Applied to the May 2024 accounts, this conversion of debt to shares would have resulted in the net liabilities of £2.3m shown in the 31st May 2024 balance sheet being converted to net assets of around £400k.

The accounts also don’t reflect the new equity investments made by 1878 Partners Limited by Jason, Andrew and some of its new investors, including James Harrison and Miles Gooseman, which again took place after the year end.

GTFC Chair, Andrew Pettit, said, “The results to 31st May 2024 show how challenging it is for lower league clubs to find a route to financial sustainability. We are far from the highest spenders in League Two and have an amazingly loyal supporter base.

We are continuing to lobby for a fairer financial distribution within the football pyramid which will hopefully occur if an independent football regulator is created.

Under Polly’s excellent leadership, the Club remains focused on developing new streams of revenue and growing our culture of evidence and data-based decision making.

Jason and I are also continuing to seek to attract a wider investor base who share our passion for the Club that is central to our town’s identity and its social and community values.”

You can access Grimsby Town FC’s financial statements by clicking here.

Grimsby Town Foundation also released its annual accounts which showed that the Club’s associated charity ended its 2023-24 financial year with total funds of £290,805.

The balance sheet shows solid assets, including cash reserves of £249,751, which is a positive indicator of liquidity and financial health. This level of reserves provides a strong foundation for future projects and the continued support of the local community, ensuring that the Foundation can sustain and expand its programmes, even in the face of economic challenges.

The accounts reflect a stable and well-managed organisation that is capable of achieving its charitable objectives while maintaining fiscal responsibility.

After submitting our Club and community data to the EFL, the Grimsby Town Foundation delivered over £4m worth of social value into our community via its education, community and social programmes during 2023-24.

You can access Grimsby Town Foundation’s financial statements by clicking here.

UTM