Premiership rugby club sinks to record losses
Worcester Warriors may have secured a third consecutive Premiership season last summer but its performance off the field worsened, newly-filed accounts have shown.
The Warriors recorded a pre-tax loss of £8.1m in the year to June 2017, which was £2.0m worse than the underlying results a year earlier.
However the bottom line of its 2016 financial results had been massively improved by shareholders writing off loans worth £20.4m, to give a paper pre-tax profit of £14.3m.
Revenue in the 2016/17 season increased by £1.0m to £10.8m, improved by an additional £0.4m in central funding, £0.3m in commercial partnerships and £0.3m from conference and events.
However staff costs increased by £1.5m to 103% of its turnover, including £0.4m spent on termination costs of five staff.
The Warriors are currently 11th, one place above bottom-placed London Irish, having won six of its 19 league games.
It was reported last September that the club had appointed advisers as part of plans to find a new buyer, but it is still owned by Worcester Bosch founder and club president Cecil Duckworth.
Former international cricketer Gus Mackay became managing director at Sixways last June, replacing Jim O’Toole, as part of a management restructure.
Mackay, who represented Zimbabwe during a career that also saw him play for Barnt Green and West Bromwich in the West Midlands, has previously run Sussex and Surrey County Cricket Clubs and rugby league club London Broncos.
