Losses widen at Lincoln City as wage bill rises

Losses have widened at League One side Lincoln City after a hike in administration expenses blunted higher turnover.

The Imps, who narrowly missed out on the play-offs in 2023/24, saw losses come in at just below £3m – up from £2.6m in the previous year. Turnover increased from £6.5m in 2023 to just under £7m last year.

The club said the main reason for the increase in costs was “sharply” higher staff costs, up from £5.9m to £6.9m. This was attributable to a larger playing budget, an increase in commercial staff, the dismissal of the club’s previous head coach and his assistant along with general staff increases including the securing of senior key management.

In order to fund the operating losses, player signings and capital expenditure, the company issued shares for cash amounting to £3.9m. With the majority of that investment from the Jabara family, at the financial year-end, HJ-LCFC Holdings was the largest shareholder in Lincoln City Holdings with 32.2% of the issued shares.