Doncaster Rovers accounts: Latest filings and why Rovers’ £34m ‘losses’ are nothing to be concerned about

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Doncaster Rovers posted a £557,000 loss for the 2019/20 financial year, the club’s latest accounts show.

Despite the early stages of the Covid-19 pandemic falling within the financial year, the company saw a significant improvement on the previous 12 months, which had seen a loss of £1.85m.

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And the overall debt of the club was massively reduced - dropping from £7.41m for 18/19 to £854,645 at the end of the last financial year.

Here we take a look at some of the other points of note from the filing of the latest accounts

Keepmoat StadiumKeepmoat Stadium
Keepmoat Stadium

OVERALL LOSSES

Since the inception of Doncaster Rovers Limited, previously Patienceform Ltd, the company has lost £34,018,253 up to June 30, 2020.

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The figure itself appears staggering, but the impact on the club is negligible due to the circumstances of the operation.

Those losses have been covered over the last two decades by the owners and continue to be so by Terry Bramall and chairman David Blunt.

The financial input by the owners is done so via loans which are then converted into shares.

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The departure of previous owners such as John Ryan and the Watson family have seen the shares returned to the club and any outstanding loans cancelled.

It means that while the losses over time are significant, the level of debt held against the club always remains minimal.

Football finance expert Kieran Maguire explained to the Free Press last year that Rovers as an operation was reliant on the funding of the owners.

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But while the owners remain committed to that funding, Rovers are a sound operation.

SIGNINGS AND SALES

Rovers spent £84,000 on the signing of players during the 19/20 financial year.

Fejiri Okenabirhie and Devante Cole both joined from other clubs during the period.

The club also recouped £29,060 from the sale of players.

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NO MUCH DETAIL

Companies of a certain size and number of employees are permitted to file a cut down version of the accounts, which Rovers have again elected to do.

This is why the accounts lack detail on wage bills and similar matters. It is the club’s prerogative to do so.

WHAT IS TO COME?

These latest accounts make for pleasing reading, particularly when considering the sudden halting of income streams in early March 2020.

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The true impact of the Covid-19 pandemic will tell in the accounts which will be filed early next summer, when a full year without matchday revenues is taken into consideration.

Rovers as a club have been consistently open about the testing financial circumstances and have made it clear that around £1million of debt will be carried into the next financial year, with the likes of HMRC, the players and the EFL owed money due to grants and deferrals..

DONCASTER ROVERS LIMITED SHAREHOLDERS

As of October, 2020:

Club Doncaster Limited - 32,640,924 shares

Michael Collett - 334,684

Viking Supporters - 107,000

Michael Garrity - 80,000

Joseph Cartwright - 1,000

CLUB DONCASTER LIMITED SHAREHOLDERS

As of September, 2020

Terry Bramall - 960,655,415

David Blunt - 960,655,415

Gavin Baldwin - 960,655,414

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In these confusing and worrying times, local journalism is more vital than ever. Thanks to everyone who helps us ask the questions that matter by taking out a subscription or buying a paper. We stand together. Liam Hoden, editor.

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