A few more 2023 accounts re Championship clubs:

Sheffield - Loss of £283k; net liabilities of £209k

Widnes - Loss of £280k; net liabilities of 34k

York - Loss of £380k; net liabilities of £580k

Swinton - Loss of £60k; but wait for it .... NET ASSETS of £75k !!!!! They're solvent! But the assets include £150k of goodwill re the purchase of a business, so god knows what that is and if it really is worth that much?

Quote Tony Fax="Tony Fax"A few more 2023 accounts re Championship clubs: Sheffield - Loss of £283k; net liabilities of £209k Widnes - Loss of £280k; net liabilities of 34k York - Loss of £380k; net liabilities of £580k Swinton - Loss of £60k; but wait for it .... NET ASSETS of £75k !!!!! They're solvent! But the assets include £150k of goodwill re the purchase of a business, so god knows what that is and if it really is worth that much?'" Any mentioned of Swinton receiving an initial loan of £100 grand from Salford Council with another one for the same amount being approved and to follow? https://www.google.com/url?q=https://ww ... FRD8fEp0aw

Quote Tony Fax="Tony Fax"A few more 2023 accounts re Championship clubs: Sheffield - Loss of £283k; net liabilities of £209k Widnes - Loss of £280k; net liabilities of 34k York - Loss of £380k; net liabilities of £580k Swinton - Loss of £60k; but wait for it .... NET ASSETS of £75k !!!!! They're solvent! But the assets include £150k of goodwill re the purchase of a business, so god knows what that is and if it really is worth that much?'" Any mentioned of Swinton receiving an initial loan of £100 grand from Salford Council with another one for the same amount being approved and to follow? https://www.google.com/url?q=https://ww ... FRD8fEp0aw

Quote faxcar="faxcar"Any mentioned of Swinton receiving an initial loan of £100 grand from Salford Council with another one for the same amount being approved and to follow? https://www.google.com/url?q=https://ww ... FRD8fEp0aw'" The accounts are for the year ended 30/11/2023 so the loan has happened after the year end. Loans as at 30/11/23 = £61k and doesn't say who owed to. The odd thing about Swinton's accounts is the average number of employees for the year is 6 (28 the year before) so I wonder if the players are self employed? Is that allowed? Fax had 33 employees. Employees will also include backroom staff and directors. Bradford's average number of employees was 133 ............... !!!!!

Quote faxcar="faxcar"Any mentioned of Swinton receiving an initial loan of £100 grand from Salford Council with another one for the same amount being approved and to follow? https://www.google.com/url?q=https://ww ... FRD8fEp0aw'" The accounts are for the year ended 30/11/2023 so the loan has happened after the year end. Loans as at 30/11/23 = £61k and doesn't say who owed to. The odd thing about Swinton's accounts is the average number of employees for the year is 6 (28 the year before) so I wonder if the players are self employed? Is that allowed? Fax had 33 employees. Employees will also include backroom staff and directors. Bradford's average number of employees was 133 ............... !!!!!

A significant portion of their debt will be owed to Andrew Chalmers: when he 'sold' the club to Wood and Co he said he wouldn't (ever) try to recoup it, but it didn't get written off

Thats a weird one if they are self employed but under contract and how that would work with the minimum pay rules. They must be on some sort of retainer but will be saving the club a tidy sum in tax and NI payments.

Doesn't make sense. There was a dispute between Leeds and the Tax man quite a few years back when certain Leeds players claimed they were self employed as they were selling their image rights rather than working (as a player) thus saving on not paying NI (employee and employer). Needless to say the Tax Man won. Other sports folk also tried it on, even Harry Gration on Look North and the Super League Show! So could be a tpo on the Swinton accounts. I'll dig out employee numbers on other clubs.

The latest club re 2023 accounts - Wigan. They lost £1.6 million and had net liabilities of £10.5 million, which included an asset of £2.2 million re the training ground at Orrell. They owed £9.4 million to ex director Ian Lenagan's company (he resigned last December). They had 119 employees (less than Bradford!).

Sounds as if the game is in rude health

Good job IMG negotiated an improved Sky TV deal to get more money into the game. Jeez. Why can’t our sport find one single good administrator

I thought the sky deal was reduced again last time but IMG are tasked with trying to improve it although it is never going to happen barring a miracle.

The last championship clubs' 2023 accounts I've dug out is Batley, for the time being, so 8 in total so far. They lost £227k and had net assets of £1.3 million because they own their ground included in fixed assets of £1.9 million. Of the other clubs - Barrow, Whitehaven, Featherstone and Doncaster have later filing deadlines (they may have tinkered around with their year end dates to extend the deadline), Toulouse of course being French don't file their accounts at Companies House, and cannot find Wakefield's new company name since Matthew Ellis took over so help appreciated tracking them down.

To summarise the 8 clubs so far in order of balance sheet strength:

Batley - £1.3m net assets; £(227k) loss; 32 employees
Swinton - £75k net assets; £(60k) loss; 6 employees
Widnes - (£34k) net liabilities; (£280k) loss; 34 employees
Sheffield - (£209k) net liabilities; (£283k) loss; 30 employees
Dewsbury - (£345k) net liabilities; (£100k) loss; 42 employees
Halifax - (£540k) net liabilities; (£200k) loss; 33 employees
York - (£580k) net liabilities; (£380k) loss; 36 employees
Bradford - (£863k) net liabilities; £22k profit; 133 employees

So (so far) we're all basically skint. Wouldn't be surprised if Batley sold their ground to keep afloat. Despite it's ridiculous slope that really would be a tragedy.

I will add the others when they become available and finish the Super League clubs later. Might even have a look at League 1.

There is a chance that Wakey is Spirit of 1873.

Yes, good call Greg, I should have seen that as the old Wakefield Trinity company sold its assets to Spirit of 1873 before it got dissolved.

Wakefield's accounts obviously relate to when they were Super League in 2023 showing them making a profit of £2.7 million, but that included a grant from Wakefield Council for £1.6 million ans a shareholder loan write of of £1,275 million, so stripping them 2 out would show a small loss. They have net assets of £3.5 million but this includes nearly £14 million for the ground and other facilities but creditors include loans building the stuff. They're deferring some further council funding whilst the stadium has/is being constructed, but they look pretty strong nevertheless, that's what we've been competing against, not a cat in hell's chance!