Cardiff Blues make £466,000 loss in financial year to June 2020
- Published
Cardiff Blues chief executive Richard Holland (left) and chairman Alun Jones at Cardiff Arms Park, where the team's lease runs out in 2022
Cardiff Blues made an operating loss of £466,000 in the financial year to 30 June 2020.
Their annual financial report states the club would have made a small profit but for the Covid-19 pandemic.
Blues, who will rebrand as Cardiff Rugby on 1 August, reported total liabilities of £4.6m.
Chairman Alun Jones said the club remain reliant on the goodwill of the Welsh Rugby Union (WRU), sponsors, directors, shareholders and supporters.
In March, Jones said he was concerned about the region's financial future because they faced paying back a £5m commercial bank loan taken to assist them through the impact of coronavirus.
Earlier this week the WRU announced it had reached agreements with the four Welsh regions for funding, which will rise to £23.5m between Cardiff, Dragons, Ospreys and Scarlets by 2023.
Blues had expected to make a small profit before the coronavirus pandemic put them "in an extremely difficult and challenging position".
They went on to cut salaries across the business by 25% amid the financial challenges caused by the impact of Covid-19.
The report also states reasons behind their move from a training base in the Vale of Glamorgan to a leisure centre in Cardiff.
Blues say they accepted an offer from the Football Association of Wales (FAW) to leave the Vale site, where Wales' national football team is based, providing "a major financial boost" to the rugby team.
"A number of options for a new training ground were explored in the following months and a new long-term agreement has since been struck with Cardiff Council to take over and run Pentwyn Leisure Centre as an Elite Performance Centre with community offerings," stated the Blues.
The Arms Park was also used as a medical centre in the fight against Covid-19 and Blues say while they received no money for that, they "were able to claim all our costs associated to the project, saving the company a substantial amount of money during this period of uncertainty".