WEST Ham United plc is pleased to announce its results for the year
ended 31 May 2005.
Highlights include the following.
• Turnover of £31.8m (2003/04 -
£35.1m)
• Pre-tax loss of £5.1m (2003/04 -
£11.8m profit)
• Net assets of £35.9m (2003/04 -
£39.7m)
• Net bank borrowings of £29.4m (2003/04 -
£33.8m)
In his Chairman's Statement, Terence Brown comments:-
I am delighted to report to you, once again, as the Chairman of Premier League club West Ham United. We are back where this proud Club belongs. I am also pleased to report that we have achieved record Season Ticket sales for the 2005/06 season and the financial aspects of the Club are on a surer footing than in previous years.
The year saw us finish in 6th place in the Coca-Cola Championship and qualify for the divisional play-offs in which we played Ipswich Town in the semi-finals for the second year running. A draw at the Boleyn Ground was followed by an impressive victory at Portman Road and we thus qualified for the divisional play-off final on Monday 30th May at the Millennium Stadium.
The team played well and fully deserved the 1-0 victory against Preston North End and I would like to thank all our supporters, who remained so loyal to the Club during our two seasons in the Coca-Cola Championship, for enthusiastically driving the team on in Cardiff. As a Club we owe our fans an immense debt of gratitude and our players and staff were delighted to bring a most deserved taste of success in the play-off final to those supporters.
We now have a formidable task ahead of us following our return to the Premier League but record Season Ticket sales confirm the Club's tremendous support and, with our solid financial base, we can look forward to the coming season with every confidence. Despite the financial effects of relegation the group reduced its net bank borrowings by a further £4.4m in the year, bringing the balance at 31 May 2005 down to £29.4m.
During the season the team achieved positive results in 31 of our 46 League games. In the last 13 matches, in what our manager calls "the business end of the season", we lost just once and secured the vital play-off position that became the springboard for promotion.
Our 10th manager, Alan Pardew, was appointed on 10th October 2003 and between that time and 5pm on 30 May 2005 the club sold 35 players, signed 26 players, reached two play-off finals, developed some excellent youngsters, dealt with some difficult issues and finally gained promotion back to the Premier League - all within 20 months - a most remarkable achievement. The Coca-Cola Championship is a fiercely competitive environment and our football management team, led by Alan Pardew and Peter Grant, have worked extremely hard to gain promotion and fully deserve the recognition they have received.
In last year's Chairman's Statement I said I understood that in footballing terms the Club had fallen a long way in a short time but that the situation could change quickly. I pointed out that when we were promoted we would return to the Premier League in far better financial shape than when we left and with greatly reduced debts. The fact that we are now in such good financial shape is because we took the financial pain early doing what was necessary and, in effect, changed the financial position of the company, which is now vastly different to that of two years ago.
The company's annual report, including the full version of the Chairman's Statement, will be distributed to shareholders tomorrow and a full copy of the report will be available on the club website early next week.