Worcestershire expect to make record surplus (From Worcester News)

Worcestershire expect to make record surplus

6:50am Friday 12th December 2008 in

• Skip social links
• Print
• Email
• Comments(0)

WORCESTERSHIRE County Cricket Club are poised to announce record six-figure profits in the new year.

The New Road side set about recouping the £693,000 loss recorded last season over a two-year period following the devastating floods.

While the County are remaining tight-lipped over the exact profit made over the past campaign until the accounts are released next month, it is thought that it will eclipse the £105,000 they recorded in 1995.

All this comes despite Worcestershire having to move the final two matches of their LV County Championship Division Two promotion winning season to Kidderminster after the ground was flooded at the start of September.

“We are on course to recoup the 2007 losses over the two-year period we marked out,” said chief executive Mark Newton.

Things could have been a lot worse for Worcestershire at the end of the 2007 season as they were expected to announce a deficit of more than £1million.

However, an insurance pay-out of £300,000, which was taken out to secure the ground against any damage from the 2006 Elton John concert, and a £75,000 grant from the England and Wales Cric-ket Board helped ease the pain.

The County’s chairman Martyn Price set up a ‘Flood Club’ at the end of last season as he looked to raise £150,000 with 150 members donating £1,000 apiece.

The scheme was fully subscribed, with 156 members all boosting the County’s coffers without them having to dip into the cricket budget.

When the County publish their annual accounts, it will be a huge coup for all concerned considering recent annual profits have been around £50,000.

Despite their losses last year, Worcestershire began work on the new Graeme Hick Pavilion this autumn — the first phase of the multi-million pound New Road redevelopment — making the six-figure profit even more remarkable.

But, given the current economic climate, the County are going to have to work harder over the next 12 months to ensure that they achieve their goal.

Work on the Hick Pavilion is on course to be completed by early May. The erection of the steel frame of the structure began this week.