Doncaster Rovers post pre-tax profit of £2.3m

Doncaster Rovers overcame a significant reduction in turnover to reduce debt and post a pre-tax profit, the club's annual accounts have revealed.

Accounts for operating company Patienceform have been published for the year ending June 30, 2015 which included the first season after relegation from the Championship.

The drop into League One brought an inevitable hit on income, dropping from £8.715million to £4.998m.

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This included a reduction in matchday income from £2.084m to £1.351m and collective income from Football League prize money, Premier League solidarity payments and broadcast rights from £4.206m to £1.140m.

A major positive saw commercial income suffer only a minor decrease of only 1.1 per cent from £1.314m to £1.30m.

After suffering losses of £1.288m the previous year, Rovers posted a pre-tax profit of £2.307m.

And net debt was reduced from £14.109m to £12.165m.

Rovers received a total of £310,000 due to player departures during the period. James Husband was the only player to leave for a fee - which was undisclosed - as he joined Middlesbrough with Curtis Main arriving as part of the deal.

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There were no transfer fees to be paid based on player appearances during the period, a drop from £60,000 the previous year.

The accounts confirmed that former owner John Ryan wrote off a loan of £4.066m during the period. Ryan ended his long association with Rovers as he gave up his 24 per cent stake in the club in April 2015 and wrote off the loans.

The Patienceform company received a loan of £1.5m from Club Doncaster Ltd, the company which operates the Club Doncaster model excluding Rovers.

Accounts also revealed that remaining major shareholders Terry Bramall and Dick Watson secured loans totalling £1.3m against the club’s leasehold assets.

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Bramall and Watson added an additional £175,000 apiece to their loans to the club during the year, taking the club’s liability to each man to £5.099m.

A total of 5,000 additional shares were issued during the year at a value of £1 each. The total share value of the club now stands at £12.296m.

The club reduced wages and salaries from £6.618m to £3.741m despite an overall increase in football staff.

Football squad and support staff employees rose from 63 to 88 and administrative staff numbers rose from 23 to 27. But the numbers of stadium staff was sliced from 144 to 53.

The Free Press asked Rovers to comment on the results but they are yet to respond.