Northampton Saints: Record £21.96m turnover, despite before-tax loss of £1.1m

Northampton Saints are currently sixth in the Premiership table

Northampton Saints have announced a record turnover of £21.96m in their annual report for the year ending in June 2023.

However, the club made an overall loss before tax of £1.1m following a £0.3m profit in the previous 12 months.

But Saints say they are in a "good position" despite problems in the game which saw Worcester Warriors, Wasps and London Irish go into administration.

And ticket revenue increased despite disruption to the fixtures schedule.

"The 2022-23 financial year presented a new set of challenges for Northampton Saints - and the Premiership as a whole," said chairman John White.

"At Saints, our model has always been very clear; we aim to operate within the confines of our own resources - and while we are proud of our efforts so far, we still have a long road ahead of us."

A parliamentary report published in January said the finances of Premiership clubs were "clearly unsustainable".

And last month former Northampton and England lock Martin Bayfield said the game had led a "pretty much hand-to-mouth existence" since going fully professional in 1995.

But White insisted: "We are in a good position, have a track record of responsible financial management, and have a clear plan for the future.

"However, we need our supporters and partners to continue to stand by our side in the years ahead, and we have to become a cash-generative operation as soon as possible, to ensure we avoid the challenges that other Premiership clubs faced in 2022-23.

"That is difficult in this challenging environment, but we have every confidence in our approach."

Northampton partly offset potential losses from the scrapping of two home Premiership fixtures caused by the financial problems of other clubs by quickly arranging a friendly against Barbarians and also playing additional home and away derbies against East Midlands rivals Leicester in April.

And they have set up an exhibition game against South African side DHL Stormers, to be played on 9 March.

"Thanks to strong commercial performance, as well as agility in staging these additional fixtures, the club increased our turnover to £21.96m in 2022-23, beating our highest-ever turnover of £20.8m, reported the previous year," said White.

"The accounts show a loss before tax of £1.1m, down from a profit of £0.3m in the previous year - however, after adjusting for one-off items which boosted the 2021-22 figure, our underlying trading loss showed a £0.2m improvement on the previous year."

Northampton are currently sixth in the Premiership, having reached the play-offs in the two previous seasons before losing to eventual champions Leicester and Saracens.