Management at Leicestershire County Cricket Club say they saw record profits and income last year despite all the obstacles the pandemic had to through at them.
Following the safe return of crowds, total income reached £4.9 million in 2021 while expenditure was lower than the previous full cricket season of 2019. The club had reported an income of £4.1 million in 2018-19, before the impact of Covid.
The club said it had net profits of £483,000 for the financial year ended September 30, and EBITDA at £780,000, from £149,000 a year before.
Leicestershire has been on a concerted effort to build its commercial revenues since Sean Jarvis took over as chief executive in 2020, joining the club after 14 years at Huddersfield Town.
He recently set out his latest 25 key performance indicators for the coming months, covering everything from progressing in the county championships and cups, to growing audiences and commercial customer loyalty, winning back conferencing and banqueting business post-Covid and stepping up involvement in the women’s game.
The county cricket club said its commercial revenue streams increased to £621,000 in 2021 from £353,000 a year before and it also brought in revenues from two concerts and a fireworks night.
During the year it announced a number of key partnerships including selling the naming rights for its Grace Road ground to Leicestershire steel supplier Uptonsteel, which also continued to sponsor the front of the team’s three playing shirts.
The club said it repaid debts of £100,000, while debt as a percentage of income reduced from 80 per cent in 2020 to 48 per cent in 2021.
As well as recording a strong financial performance, the LCCC Foundation, the charity arm of the club, was also relaunched as part of the club’s new strategy to focus on strengthening engagement with the local community.
There are four beneficiaries – Alex’s Wish, Healing Little Hearts, the LCCC Academy and grassroots cricket in the Leicestershire area to support the next generation of young cricketers.
The spokesman said: “LCCC’s women’s and girl’s teams went from strength to strength in a positive season across all age groups, and there were a number of community initiatives that were carried out across the county.”
CEO Sean Jarvis said: “We are delighted with the financial result in what was another challenging year of the pandemic but realise there is still hard work ahead, which we are relishing.
“We now have a sound financial platform from which to move the club forward both on and off the field of play and look forward to the new season with eager anticipation.”
