Queens Park Rangers shareholders write off loans worth £60m as losses narrow
A short statement by Queens Park Rangers posted today showed things are not going well for the club: having posted a loss of £9.8m in the year ending May 2014, their shareholders were forced to write off £60m of loans in during the year, which "strengthened the club's balance sheet". We bet it did.
Admittedly, the figures were an improvement on last year, when the club posted a loss of £65.4m after they were relegated from the Premier League in the 2012/13 season. Expenditure fell £22m in the year, "mainly driven by lower player costs", they said.
Earlier this month, manager Harry Redknapp quit, blaming knee replacement surgery he's due to have shortly.
"If I can't give 100 per cent, it's better for someone else to take over," he said.
The club is 66 per cent owned by a consortium run by Malaysian entrepreneur Tony Fernandes – the rest is owned by steel tycoon Lakshmi Mittal.
Today the consortium said it was "of the opinion that the club is moving in the right direction".
The impact of relegation and promotion inevitably has a material impact on the short-term financial results of clubs but the shareholders are comfortable that the medium-term outlook is positive with Premier League revenues growing and the club’s costs continuing to fall.