Sunderland more than doubled their turnover but still posted a net operating loss of £5.1m in their promotion season from League One, according to the club's latest set of accounts. The accounts, which cover the 12-month period to the end of July 2022, show the Black Cats' turnover was £26.1m - an increase of £15.4m over the previous year, when Covid restrictions meant all-but one game was played behind closed doors.
The increase also reflects the resumption of conference and banqueting income following the Covid pandemic, and the return of concerts to the Stadium of Light. That increase in turnover was partly offset by an increase in operating expenses of £9.5m.
The net operating loss of £5.1m was down from a loss of £8.4m the previous year. Wages increased from £12.8m to £16.3m, with player salaries accounting for 34.6 percent of revenue in 2021-22 as opposed to 68.4 percent the season before.
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The accounts also reported that the club's shareholders injected £10.4m into the club during 2021-22, with a further £2.5m put in between the end of July and this month, and the club has no external debts and fully owns all of its assets. The report said that £1.3m was invested in the pitch and other facilities at the Stadium of Light and in facilities at the Academy of Light, taking infrastructure investment to more than £3m since Louis-Dreyfus took over in February 2021.
The accounts revealed that the club sold 24,700 season cards for the League One promotion season, and 32,000 ahead of this season's return to the Championship - the latter figure being the highest since the club's move to the Stadium of Light in 1997. The accounts' review of business confirmed that the club viewed the 2022-23 season as 'a period of consolidation as the club adapts to the second tier', going on to say 'it remains the club's ambition to return to the Premier League within five years since acquiring control [in 2021]'.
During the period covered by the accounts, chairman Kyril Louis-Dreyfus and Juan Sartori increased their shareholdings in the club in June last year to 51 percent and 30 percent respectively, with the former acquiring 10 percent of Stewart Donald's stake while the latter acquired Charlie Methven's five percent holding and five percent of Donald's shares.
Louis-Dreyfus and Sartori increased their shareholdings further last month to 58 percent and 33 percent respectively, with Donald's stake reduced from 19 to nine percent, although those dealings fell outside the scope of these accounts. The full accounts for 2021-22 can be accessed here.
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