Today's award for stating the obvious is given to benjcake. Here he is with his prize

We'll be okay.

Those lovely lads from Wakie will do a walk for us.

Why? It's far too simplistic to just take that figure into account. Of course no business can operate losing money forever but I wouldn't worry too much. Besides what's to say that Ken Davy being behind the club is the reason they went out spending money in an effort to ensure the long term viability of the club. For example that free match against the Catalans. That would have cost a fortune but it had the desired effect right? They sold more 2009 season tickets didn't they?

The clubs finances are fluid and they have some impressive fixed asset. i would suggest they are in a healthier position than a lot of clubs.

All the figures I have checked out so far in that table are valid.

You CAN get Leeds figures. Go search for company no 00028301. They made £1.25m, but that is a bit misleading, cos that was after a £1.47m profit relating to the sale of the cricket ground so they actually made a loss without that - attributed to repairs on the South Stand.

Warrington overall actually lost £55k more than the figure quoted - if you do a pro-forma consolidation of the (technically insolvent) rugby club and its well-endowed (cos of stadium) parent.

Wakefield are still overdue with filing their accounts (maybe their auditors are chewing over the going concern question...?)

WILL WHOEVER EDITED MY POST PLEASE DESIST OR I WILL COMPLAIN TO SITE ADMIN

If any of you guys are interested (some will already be aware, I presume):

1. Huddersfield Giants (the club) - the reported loss is correct, and the balance sheet shows a massive net liabilities position of well over £5m. That is a bad case of technically insolvent, and the accounts have been prepared on a Going Concern basis because Ken Davy has pledged his ongoing financial support. It is, incidentally, the old Sheffield Eagles company.

2. The club is owned by Huddersfield Sporting Pride Ltd (in turn controlled by Ken Davy), That company, as an entity, has a balance sheet with net assets of just over £1m, and as an entity it breaks even. This is the original Huddersfield Rugby League company which bought the Sheffield Eagles company.

Add 1 & 2 together (group accounts are not prepared) and you still have a massive loss and a massive net liabilities situation.

3. HOWEVER, Huddersfield Sporting Pride Ltd ALSO owns 60% (and so it is also a subsidiary) of Kirklees Stadium Development Ltd - the stadium company. THAT company made about £1/3m and has net assets of nearly £11m.

If group accounts were prepared (and I've not bothered getting the stadium accounts so I am assuming there is nothing daft in there) then you'd have a big loss still but a solvent balance sheet with half-decent net assets. Unless there were any big consolidation adjustments.

But the rugby club in isolation - financial position dire. If Ken Davy suddenly found it necessary to stop supporting the club financially, and no-one else stepped in with maybe £6m or more, then things would go very bad very quickly. But that is not news to anyone, is it, since Davy's support (and its implications) is fully understood by pretty well everyone, and no-one expects him to walk away anytime soon? But what will happen when he finally wants to call it a day?

Yes, all very interesting, but whats your point?

My point? Some folk suggested the reported figures were the product of someone's imagination - they are not. You yourself appeared to be one of them. And I am merely providing information (and some limited interpretation) on the financial position for anyone who is interested. I did similar at Leeds and Wire as well as Bulls, and we saw various people who derided anything they either did not understand or did not like, but various others who said they found the info interesting or helpful. I review the accounts anyway, so it costs only a few mins of my time to put up some info on here. I am happy to add further info if anyone is at all interested.

My suspicion is that most Hudds fans will be a bit shocked at just how big the losses are, and by extension just how much Davy is having to bankroll the club by. The dependence on a rich owner for staying in business has to be a big future exposure for any such club. You are almost certainly safer than some, cos Davy is both a huge fan and a man of very considerable means. The wealthy backers of some other clubs - notably Hull KR - are getting cold feet it seems.

But these are the 2008 accounts, and you guys had a fantastic 2009 so I would surely expect a dramatic improvement in the numbers.

I will admit SOME partisan motive, in that I get hacked off with armchair experts assuring everyone that the Bulls are skint and in huge debt (or whatever) when neither are actually true. Comparisons like the Guy from HKR did help to put things in some perspective. But what worries me more is that - as Peter Hood said recently - the game as a whole is built on foundations of sand. Based on that worrying (and pre-worst of recession!) table of losses, he may have a point.

Huddersfield fans who attended the relevant meetings are fully aware of the situation and also of KD's plan in terms of the long term sustainability of the club when Ken has gone. His plan may work, it may not. In the meantime we are very fortunate and I'm sure all Huddersfield fans hope his theory bears fruit.

In the meantime, whilst KD is around, we're going to be around with him.

We are lucky. We know this. We don't need to be told. Those less fortunate should spend their time looking for their own KD rather than p*ss and whine about how we have ours.

I know these numbers are probably better this last season due to the play-offs and challenge cup final, but we can't rely on those achievements every season and I bet not even that balanced the books.

If the plan is for the club to be able to be sustainable once Ken has left then it would appear there is still a lot of work to do.

Adeybull - whilst I accept your statements are accurate you are looking at them through the only window you can. They do not show the full picture going on at the club.

As Danril pointed out - those of us that attend the forum meetings, have conversations with Directors and have a general interest in the day-to-day running of the club know these final figures form part of the picture. Ken Davy has gone on record saying that he sells a property a year to finance the club and that will continue until it can finance itself.

Yes - without him we would be insolvent but if he had never come along there would be no Huddersfield Giants at all to start with.

Ken Davy has dragged this club from nothing to where it is today and each and every fan knows and respects that.

Did'nt the Giants fund part of the Zone complex early 2008 along with HTFC

And they had to pay Jon Sharp out just shy of 3 years worth of contract money

He was on a rolling deal wasn't he?

yes.

Signed a contract extension in March 2008

[url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/rugby_league/super_league/huddersfield/7316967.stmBBC[/url



Not 3 years mate.

You look a bit of a numpty now, fella. Thanks to Adeybull and others for verifying the info I posted, which, incidentally, was from the published accounts at Companies House.

Just as a bit of context, we all know Hull FC have been pants on the field for the last 2 years. However, it's a credit to the club's off-field operations (we have superb retail and community operations) and the loyalty of the supporters that we have now posted profits for 5 years running, selling 50,000 shirts in that time period. In the context of SL, that is an absolutely outstanding performance. If only there were trophies for having a sustainable business model.

I know what you're saying but boomer was right in what he says about Ken. Davy knows the club are losing money but he's speculating to accumulate and is fully aware of his position. He's in it for the long haul. Hopefully his gamble will pay off and in the not too distant future the Huddersfield club will be self sustaining like Hull and Leeds.

I wish you well with it. FC are very fortunate to have a fan base that hasn't dropped off despite 2 abysmal years, but realistically patience is running thin and I can see attendances dropping off if the results don't improve quickly next season. It seems that you need at least 10,000 averages to break even. Which begs the question what on earth Wigan are doing with the 2nd highest gates but an operating loss of nearly £600,000.

2 x words & 3 letters!

Dave Whelan / JJB.

Whilst under Whelan every piece of merchandise & sponsorship went through his Business operations and not the club.
That's why when it came to the licences we didn't get a "Tick in the Box" for the Minimum Turnover part of the process.
Under the move to Leneghan which took around a year to fully conclude a lot of the assets had to be transferred/purchased by the club etc and it's only now a year or so later we are seeing the changes.
Once the full transition period was/is over I think you'll find we are currently opetrating at about Level.

Then again we could always charge away fans £21/22 like we get charged nearly everyhwere else instead of £15!
That should bring in a bit extra (Nearly another £100 when Huddersfield come!

)

Barista , l am not a Numpty l simply said, that what you stated in your initial comments, were not backed up with any real evidence, no links, and in typical RL fashion, romours, my clubs better than your club, very common in Hull. Adybull put some meat on the bones. his post clearly showed a lot of research.
Other posters who seem to know a bit, have demonstrated that Huddersfield Giants are part of a complecated set up, "The Giants", "Sporting Pride", "KSDL". As previously stated, Ken Davy as the founder and former owner of the biggest independent financial advisors, in th UK, has the full backing of every Giants supporter, and we are all certain that he knows exactly what he is in for, and what he is doing

I dont care how rich you are. You arent going to keep throwing over a million pounds a year at a club, that if it wasnt for being the birthplace of rugby league, no one would really care about.

The alarm bells are ringing

5million over 15 years is not 1million a year. 2008 was an extra ordinary year for most clubs as they wanted to secure a Franchise. Something that has been conveniently in this argument.

You are wasted in that office of yours Wadders why dont you come to our club and be our PR man hard a job as it is I am sure you would cope, you never know you might even get paid

A wise man once warned me off sparkly Topic bars.



I don't refute the fact we had a bloody awful season but using the figures when the entire SL was in a transitional period and everyone was trying to rapidly get the franchise points is pointless. Every club spent more than they would building an infrastructure that will remain in place for many years.