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The National (Scotland)
The National (Scotland)
Sport
David Irvine

Rangers announce £5.9m operating profit as seismic revenue jump recorded

RANGERS have announced their annual accounts with an operating profit of £5.9million recorded in the past financial year.

The club released the annual report and accompanying financial statement for the year ended 30 June 2022.

And the figures report a huge swing from the £21.7m operating loss in last year's accounts to an operating profit in the past 12 months.

Douglas Park saluted a club record turnover in the new accounts with £86.8m taken in revenue - which is almost double that of last year's figures.

The Ibrox club had earned £37m in revenue last year with takings significantly affected by Covid restricting crowds.

But with fans back inside Ibrox for all matches, gate receipts and hospitality takings soared from £18.2m to £41.9m as reported in the accounts.

Commercial partnerships and sponsorships grew from £4.7m to £7.3m with retail and commercial activities also up by around £4m to £9.8m.

UEFA prize money and solidarity payments also shot up from £11.1m to £17.3m with £3.2m earned from "other revenue".

Broadcasting rights income did however dip in the accounts with revenue dropping from £7.6m in previous accounts to £7.2m in the most recent financial recordings.

On the operating expenditure section of the financial report, staff costs have risen by £7m to £54.8m in the year ended June 2022.

Outgoings titled "other operating charges" have also massively risen from £14m to £28.3m - which is largely down to overheads and matchday costs.

In the annual report, chairman Park also revealed the club have raised new equity of £10.1m and taken on new debt of £3.6m to "strengthen our financial position".

The club has loans with investors amounting to £12.2m, commercial loans of £3.4m and lease agreements amounting to £1.4m.

The company holds £13.1m within cash and bank balances.

Despite the growing revenue, the club did record an overall net loss for the year of £900,000. In Park's business review, this is due to "squad and infrastructure investment" and "player amortisation and depreciation of £13.9m".

Charmain Park commented on the club website: “The past year has provided many highs and lows, along with challenges both on and off the park, but ultimately, I believe we are continuing to grow stronger as a Club.

"This time last year, I repeated my belief from 2015 when this current Board took control of the Club, that this would be a 10-year recovery project.

"While there have been moments in the last year that have exceeded both my own and the Board’s expectations (with specific reference to the Europa League run to the final) we cannot, and will not, stand still and continue to have so much more to do.

"Assisting us on that path are our strong executive team and talented staff both at Ibrox and at the Rangers Training Centre. Rangers was created by four pioneers, and it should be and is the aim of every single employee of the Club to continue in that spirit.

"Beginning on the pitch, we appointed Giovanni van Bronckhorst as our football manager last November. As well as delivering us the Scottish Cup for the first time in 13 years he also, as I touched on earlier, gave the Club a thrilling European journey where we came within a kick of winning only our second European trophy.

"This season, under Gio’s leadership, he and the players returned us to the UEFA Champions League for the first time in 12 years by navigating two difficult qualifying rounds in August.

"Our ‘player trading model’ is something your Board mention on a number of occasions. On joining the Club, Ross Wilson, our Sporting Director, was mandated by the Board to build a modern football department.

"Player trading success was essential to this, as it is a key revenue stream for the majority of European clubs. We are pleased that in the last twelve months, we have achieved two club record sales through our player recruitment and player development processes.

"Our Academy continues to perform strongly, with Leon King the latest Academy graduate to make the breakthrough to become a regular fixture in the first team matchday squad. Encouragingly, fourteen players from the Academy have made appearances for the first team since the start of season 2021/22.

"The introduction of our B team into the Lowland League has been a fantastic success with the team being challenged week-in, week-out. Additionally, qualification of our first team for the UEFA Champions League Group Stages opened the door for our under-19s to feature in the UEFA Youth League group stages for the first time.

"Our women’s football operation is something the Board are very passionate about. Led by Amy McDonald and Malky Thomson, the Club won our first SWPL title in May, and were exceptionally unlucky not to qualify for the UEFA Women’s Champions League group stage after a valiant effort against Benfica in qualifying.

"Our entire football operation, led by Ross Wilson, now operates in a world-class environment at the Rangers Training Centre. The Board is committed to further improvements to ensure we retain a facility among the very best in the UK.

"Off the field, and allied to performance on the pitch, we have continued to make enormous strides.

"I am delighted to be reporting a Club record turnover of £86.8m for the year to 30 June 2022. From this revenue, we returned an Operating Profit of £5.9m which represents an improvement of £27.6m on last year’s operating loss. This demonstrates the success and progress achieved over the last 12 months.

"During the year to 30 June 2022, we have raised new equity of £10.1m and taken on new debt of £3.6m to strengthen our financial position.”

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