Kilmarnock FC Chairman: Budget losses "unsustainable in the long term"
Kilmarnock have posted losses of almost three-quarters of a million pounds for last season.
Kilmarnock have posted losses of almost three-quarters of a million pounds for last season.
Chairman Jim Mann described the annual loss of £724,406 as “unsustainable in the longer term” and declared that “urgent action” was being taken to reverse the situation.
Killie had budgeted for a seventh-place finish in the league but came 10th and attendances and season-ticket sales continued to fall, a “major concern” for the club.
The club have lost regular income following the sale of the Park Hotel in a deal which saw them wipe out their bank debt. Killie saved £230,000 on interest payments from the previous season but lost out on almost £1.5million income from the hotel and sports bar.
Mann, who is soon stepping down from the board, said in the club's annual report: “The financial year to May 2015 was, of course, the first year after the club's transformational debt elimination in March 2014 with, consequently, no bank debt to support.
“However it was also the first year since 2002 of operating as a stand alone football club.
“We have had to learn how to cope with uneven cash flows and with no bank overdraft facility to support us.”
Staff costs were almost £2.3million, down about £500,000 on the previous season, when hotel costs were included.
Accounts show that Billy Bowie Special Projects, a company in the name of a Rugby Park director, advanced more than £700,000 in funds to the club during the season. Kilmarnock owed the firm more than £740,000 at the end of the period in question.