Hull City owners hit by £40m sales drop

THE company that owns Hull City Football Club saw a major dip in turnover last year following the club’s one-year relegation to the Championship, which it is hoping to turn around now the club is back in the Premier League – especially after a 2-1 victory against Leicester City this weekend.

Allamhouse, the parent company of the football club Hull City Tigers Ltd, includes property and engineering companies, as well as stadium operations.

Revenues for the football club declined from £89.5m to £64.5m during the year to 31 December 2015. The club says this was a direct result of its relegation and loss of revenues from advertising and television rights.

Turnover for the whole company dipped from £191.6m to £146.2m in the year to 31 December 2015.

Pre-tax profits nearly halved from £18.3m in 2014 to £9.4m in 2015.

Allamhouse’s engineering division also made £20m less than the year before, with turnover reaching £80m in the year.

The two listed directors, Ehab and Assem Allam, received between them £1.47m in dividends throughout the year. Mr Assam has been seriously ill, leaving his son Ehab in charge of the club.

He seems keen to offload it as a business, and it was announced last week that a Chinese consortium led by businesswoman Hawken Xiu Li and her brother Dai Yongge was in advanced talks to buy the club.

Though the side has made a return to Premier League football following its defeat of Sheffield Wednesday in May, it has been called the “worst prepared side” in the division, failing to make a single signing this summer and with manager Steve Bruce walking out just three weeks before the beginning of the season.

This did not seem to deter the side this weekend, who went on to beat Leicester City 2-1 after goals from Adama Diomande and Robert Snodgrass.