Cardiff City record £11.09m loss for 2022-23 despite wage bill cut of £8m
- Published
Investment banker Mehmet Dalman joined the Cardiff board in January 2012 before being appointed chairman in July 2013
Cardiff City recorded losses of £11.09m for 2022-23 despite cutting the club's wage bill by £8m.
It means the Bluebirds' operating losses over the last three years have now passed £50m.
The club's latest set of accounts up to 31 May, 2023 show a £6.34m increase in turnover, up to £26.22m, and a reduction in losses of £17.94m from £29.03m the previous year.
But the club remains "heavily reliant" on the support of owner Vincent Tan.
The Championship side received close to £30m in loans from the Malaysian businessman and connected parties during a campaign that saw the club avoid relegation in the final weeks of the season.
However, Cardiff repaid £2m of the monies owed to Tan, with a further £36.48m converted into shares.
It left the debt owed to the club's majority shareholder last summer at £63.87m, a drop from the £73.04m recorded in the previous accounts.
In his statement accompanying the results, non-executive chairman Mehmet Dalman said: "While as a club we have gone through the enormous challenges we have faced over the last years, we have remained heavily reliant upon the continued financial support of our owner throughout this period.
"As a board and a club we are extremely grateful for the continued support of our owner and without this the future of the club would look much more precarious."
Cardiff's loans from other parties total £29m, including £26.3m to a finance company associated with Dalman.
The accounts state the club subsequently received further funding of £18.87m after the end of the reporting period while paying out £7.42m on player signings.
That represented the first time Cardiff have been able to pay a transfer fee since the summer of 2022, the club having been under an embargo until it settled the balance of the deal for Nantes striker Emiliano Sala, who died in a plane crash en route to his new club in January, 2019.
The accounts confirm the remaining instalments have been paid in full, although Dalman added: "As a board we are determined to do what is in the best and long-term interest of the club to protect our position, especially in a situation where we as a club were the innocent party in the handling of the actual flight arrangements involving Emiliano.
"We… will now take our time over the actions we will take over the losses the club has suffered against Nantes and agents."
Reflecting the season before the additions of players such as Wales captain Aaron Ramsey, wages stood at £14.2m, down from £22.2m.
The year also saw Cardiff complete work on a new academy training facility, with the club saying further investment is planned and that they are close to a deal for a new first-team base with negotiations over a 150-year lease on the proposed site "very advanced".
Cardiff expect work would begin shortly after that lease is agreed with the aim of being ready for the 2026-27 season.