Derbyshire report pre-tax profit of £1.15m for 2021
- Published
Derbyshire have been playing county cricket at the County Ground, Derby since 1871
Derbyshire have announced a £1.15m pre-tax profit for the Covid-hit 2021 season - their third straight surplus.
"The club exceeded the targets it set financially in 2021," said chairman Ian Morgan. "This was despite losing £1.5m in traditional revenue streams due to the continued effect of the pandemic."
Derbyshire's payment from the England and Wales Cricket Board, as one of the 18 first-class counties, was £3.95m.
That included help for lost ticket sales because of the Covid-19 pandemic.
Although the season started on time, unlike in 2020, crowds were not welcomed back until late in the season - and most of the counties' ticket revenue streams were similarly affected.
All counties generally receive roughly the same funding from the ECB, but there are small variations related to performance targets such as the number of England-qualified players.
Derbyshire's third successive set of positive financial results was an improvement on the 2020 surplus of £0.668m - and the club had originally budgeted for a surplus of £0.65m in 2021.
'Debt-free by 2024'
"As in 2020, we had to change our business plan due to the impact of Covid-19 and government restrictions," said chief executive Ryan Duckett.
"Ticket income, commercial sponsorship and conference and events revenues were severely affected, but thankfully we managed to replace these traditional revenue streams and effectively manage costs across the business. This result has been achieved alongside our plan of investing an additional £0.5m in cricket.
"Another year of positive financial results has allowed us to get ahead of schedule in our key strategic objective of becoming debt-free by 2024, while further investing in facilities, maintaining investment in our playing squad and attracting a world-renowned international coach in Mickey Arthur."
Derbyshire failed to win a single game during the opening 10-match County Championship segment of last season, before ending the campaign victorious against Sussex to avoid finishing bottom of Division Three.
They start next season in Division Two of the Championship, when the English red-ball game returns to a two-tier structure, with a trip to Lord's on 7 April to face Middlesex.
After finishing second bottom of their group in the T20 Blast, this season's first game in the shortest format will be at home to the Birmingham Bears on 27 May.
The eight-game One-Day Cup group does not begin until August when Derbyshire will look to improve on finishing bottom in 2021.