Mariners turn profit on the back of historic FA Cup run
Struggling League Two club Grimsby Town have released their accounts for the year ending May 31.
The Mariners, who face a crunch game against fellow relegation candidates Forest Green this Saturday, saw turnover increase by 53% to £6.81m on the back of an historic run to the Quarter Finals of the FA Cup, which resulted in a profit before tax of £245,000.
Football expenditure increased by around £1m to £4.52m. Around 88% of football expenditure relates to staff wages and for every £1 of turnover generated 59p is spent on wage costs. This has reduced from 69p in the previous year due to the extra revenue generated by the FA Cup run and player sales.
Some £293,000 of income was received from the sale of players and £114,000 was spent on transfer fees bringing new players to Blundell Park.
In total 129,735 home supporters visited Blundell Park in 2022/23 – a figure only beaten once in the last 30 years. In total £1.28m of income was generated from the sale of 5,754 season tickets.
A further £398,000 was invested in infrastructure projects and at 31 May 2023 there was £523,000 of cash in hand. In addition, the final instalments of debt to previous owner John Fenty were repaid in the year.
Mariners chair, Jason Stockwood, said: “The financial results to 31 May 2023 demonstrate the importance to lower league clubs of cup runs or player trading. It is our aim to create a sustainable community-led model and we will continue to develop new streams of revenue and search for investors with shared values and social/ community thinking whilst ensuring that the football operations budget is competitive.”
1878 Partners (which is owned by Jason Stockwood and Andrew Pettit) says it will convert its current interest free shareholder loans of just over £3m into new shares in the club.
