Peterborough United post losses of over £1 million despite big transfer profit as pandemic hit the club hard, staff costs targeted, one director’s renumeration increased by over 250%, huge bonus offers and money set aside for historic child abuse cases

The latest published accounts show a loss of £1,087,988 over a 12-month period. The loss for the year ending June, 20, 2020 was close to £3.5 million.

The latest accounts cover the period of a pandemic which meant virtually zero income from attendances as all but two scheduled home matches were played behind closed doors, and a promotion from League One.

Turnover was down 6.9% on the previous year from approximately £7.2 million to £6.7 million, but profit on transfers was up from £556,000 to £4,797,568. Posh sold Ivan Toney in August 2020 in a deal that could eventually be worth £10 million, but also spent near £1 million fees on Sammie Szomidics and Jonson Clarke-Harris.

Staff costs rose by approximately 12% (approximately £6.2 million to £6.9 million, but this is now a targeted area for for savings on an ongoing basis.

Directors’ renumerations were up from £148,307 to £392,652 with one unnamed director receiving £309,728. Director of football Barry Fry is on the club board and it’s understood he receives a bonus dependent on his work in the transfer market.

The accounts also show promotion to the Premier League and survival in the Championship this season would set the club back almost £13 million, with the vast majority of that believed to be set aside for an unlikely promotion. It’s understood Posh players have a paycut written into their contracts should they be relegated this season.

The club have also set aside £50k while they await the final findings of the Sheldon Review into historic cases of child sex abuse in football relating to former Posh employees Bob Higgins and Kit Carson.

The accounts confirm the club’s financial wellbeing is dependent on the financial backing of the club’s owners Darragh MacAnthony, Dr Jason Neale and Stewart ‘Randy’ Thompson.

The accounts will be presented to the club shareholders soon. The club AGM was postponed from yesterday (Thursday, March 31) as not all shareholders had received their copy of their accounts in time.