Plymouth Argyle report £376,000 profit despite Covid-19 pandemic

Plymouth Argyle are top of League One on goal difference after a 1-1 draw at Morecambe on Saturday extended their unbeaten run to 14 games

Plymouth Argyle made a profit of £376,000 despite playing almost an entire season behind closed doors due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

Fans bought 5,000 season tickets for 2020-21 despite not being able to go to games while 97% of fans did not request refunds for 2019-20 season tickets.

The club got a grant of £1.2m from the Premier League and claimed £2.5m from business interruption insurance.

Argyle faced a loss of more than £1m without their insurance pay-out.

The current League One leaders also cut a number of jobs and used the government furlough scheme during the Covid-19 pandemic.

The club's owner Simon Hallett put in £3.5m into the club in July 2020 - his final contribution to club funds - in order to see Argyle through last summer and boost the club's cash reserves.

"The Covid-19 pandemic continues, and the future is unusually unclear, so these reserves provide us some vital security," said Argyle's head of finance David Ray after publishing figures for the year to 30 June 2021.

"It is important that we protect them and invest appropriately in assets that will serve our fans in the years ahead.

"Given the well-documented challenges the football industry and our community have faced over the year under review, we are encouraged by the financial performance evidenced in these accounts.

"We are in a strong financial position; we own our stadium and have virtually no debt aside from an interest-free loan that will be repaid through deductions in the basic award payments we receive annually from the EFL."