CLUB ACCOUNTS REVEAL HEAVY FINANCIAL LOSS

Annual accounts for the club have been hitting the doormats of shareholders over the course of the weekend and yesterday and they show the club made a loss of £209,000 for the year ending 31 May 2011.

Coming on the back of a £60,000 deficit the previous year these are challenging financial times for the club and it is testament to the much-admired financial husbandry of Chairman Geoff Brown and his Directors that the club remains debt-free and has a fund in excess of one million pounds to call on.

However, those losses and an ever-increasing stream of money which is having to be directed into the maintenance of a stadium now 22 years old is making inroads into that fund and in his letter to shareholders, Geoff Brown warns that losses on the scale of those announced cannot continue.

“(The loss) is greater than a club of our size can reasonably expect to bear. The club remains in a sound financial position. However, we must increase our revenue in all areas, notwithstanding the difficult economic times, and exercise greater control on our costs in order that such a loss is not repeated as these cannot be sustained on an ongoing basis.”

Acknowledging that wages on the football side of the business had risen significantly and that a substantial sum had been invested into the restoration of the McDiarmid Park pitch, Geoff paid tribute to Derek McInnes and his staff on finishing 8th in last season’s SPL, while reaching the quarter final of the Co-operative Insurance Cup and the semi-final of the Scottish Cup – “no mean feat for a club of our size and resources.”

Club shareholders have the chance to meet with manager Derek McInnes at the stadium on 12th September.