Bulldogs post fourth straight significant profit

Bulldogs post fourth straight significant profit
https://i.postimg.cc/k5TTBxTQ/HERO-281118-FRPhoto.jpg
The Western Bulldogs have announced a total profit of $18.094 million for the financial year ended October 31, 2018.

The result comprises a Profit before Redevelopment Activities of $2,207,274 and a Profit from Redevelopment Activities of $15,887,059.

The financial result is up from $1.643 million in the previous year, and is the fourth straight year the Club has posted a profit (before redevelopment activities and asset write-offs) in excess of $1 million.

The profit from redevelopment activities is derived from the recognition in the Club’s accounts of the value of the freehold land assigned to the Club by the State of Victoria at the Whitten Oval precinct, income from the redevelopment grant received for the upgrade of the VU Whitten Oval facilities for AFLW and includes expenditure related to redevelopment activities as detailed in the financial report.

The financial outcome elevates the net assets of the Club to a total of $45.8 million, with cash available of $7.9 million (up from $3.9 million in 2017). The Club remains in a position of having no bank debt.

“This is an outstanding result, which everyone at our Club should be proud of given their own individual contributions,” said Bulldogs’ CEO Ameet Bains.

“We would like to thank all of our loyal members, staff, players and Board for their continued hard work, and our various football, corporate and community partners for their unwavering support.

“This result was achieved with a reduction in competitive balance funding from the AFL.

“It also came after an unprecedented increase in revenue from the Commercial Partnerships arm of the organisation, which achieved revenue in excess of $12 million for the first time.

“In particular, we are proud we could celebrate 10 years as a major partner with Mission Foods, and welcome Mercedes-Benz Vans as our principal partner.

“While we saw an overall loss in membership numbers last season, we are encouraged by significant increases in AFLW and Ballarat membership categories – important strategic objectives for the Club - which helped drive overall membership revenue to $7.59 million.

“The Club continues to invest heavily to support its impactful suite of community programs, which deliver crucial outcomes in a number of streams, throughout the western corridor of Melbourne and Victoria.

“We are extremely pleased with the Club’s financial position, but remain acutely aware of the need to grow our revenue streams to fund an expected increase in costs across the business over the next few years.

“The Bulldogs’ Board and executive are working to carefully plan our exit from gaming machine ownership, as well as plan for costs associated with the ambitious plans we have for the redevelopment of VU Whitten Oval and the broader Western Oval precinct, one of the most exciting projects in the Club’s history.

“We encourage our members and partners to take the time to both read the Directors’ Report and to listen to the Club’s podcast, which provide more detail and context to today’s exciting result announcement.”

Worth listening to the podcast here

Peter Gordon and Ameet discussing the results and development of the ground.

I love this line in the summary of the financial report ...

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This is obviously the biggest profit in the history of the Club and elevates the net assets of the Club to a total
of $45,804,532, making the club by that measure (and again for the first time in its history) one of the
wealthiest Clubs in the AFL.

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In a way that's almost as good as winning flags. Just to know that the club is safe and secure and no *!*!*!*! can try and take it from us is a huge relief.

Very proud of what Peter, Ameet and the team have been able to achieve. The fact that we have been able to achieve 4 x $1M profits in the last 4 years is fantastic endorsement of how the club has been managed during an unprecedented era of growth which is often a very challenging task for businesses who aren't prepared.

Can you imagine what is possible for our great club if we can back this up with $2m type profit performances over the next 2 or 3 seasons?

Congrats to all concerned at the club, thank you so much for your hard work and dedication.

Now let's do what rich clubs do, grab a bunch of Cat B rookies to further sprawl out our list beyond Khamis at the sole Cat B currently.

Nice to know the money that was so hard to get, is being used well. From memory, if Labor got re-elected they were going to help line our pockets through Ballarat next year and beyond. Labor won. So hopefully that bodes well.

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Originally Posted by bulldogtragic

Now let's do what rich clubs do, grab a bunch of Cat B rookies to further sprawl out our list beyond Khamis at the sole Cat B currently.

Nice to know the money that was so hard to get, is being used well. From memory, if Labor got re-elected they were going to help line our pockets through Ballarat next year and beyond. Labor won. So hopefully that bodes well.

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I seem to remember test we were promised the spare land over Cross st and underneath the railway bridge if Labor won as well.

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Originally Posted by Twodogs

I seem to remember test we were promised the spare land over Cross st and underneath the railway bridge if Labor won as well.

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We can have that too.

Edit: we got it in April irrespective of the election outcome.

The Club has acquired a key parcel of land at the southern end of VU Whitten Oval for the Club to develop, as well as a $5 million grant from the Andrews Government to improve football facilities with an emphasis on women’s change rooms, toilets, a scoreboard and TV quality lighting for future AFLW home games.

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Originally Posted by Scraggers

I love this line in the summary of the financial report ...

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We are now in third place, nearly $9m ahead of the next placed Bummers. Only the very rich Hawthorn and WC are ahead of us.

I am truly amazed at the value of land ($16m) we have been granted and thrilled at the operating result.

$3 million more of state government funding to come for the Whitten Oval next year as well - we got $2m this year according to the report.

Now let's get the team winning again and the declines in our membership, gate receipts and merchandising returns will be reversed.

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Originally Posted by Prince Imperial

I am truly amazed at the value of land ($16m) we have been granted and thrilled at the operating result.

$3 million more of state government funding to come for the Whitten Oval next year as well - we got $2m this year according to the report.

Now let's get the team winning again and the declines in our membership, gate receipts and merchandising returns will be reversed.

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That $2 million will be for new changing rooms for the AFLW, as well as a scoreboard and some other improvements.

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Originally Posted by bornadog

That $2 million will be for new changing rooms for the AFLW, as well as a scoreboard and some other improvements.

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True, and the money next year will go to public toilets and improved lighting and probably some other improvements.

I wonder if there has been any movement on our terrible stadium deal since the AFL took over. I know that when they took the keys they were doing their best stall tactics on any negotiations.

Tremendous result
Proud of the club

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Originally Posted by Prince Imperial

I am truly amazed at the value of land ($16m) we have been granted and thrilled at the operating result.

$3 million more of state government funding to come for the Whitten Oval next year as well - we got $2m this year according to the report.

Now let's get the team winning again and the declines in our membership, gate receipts and merchandising returns will be reversed.

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Yes. On field performance will be a key to continued operating profits. There’s enough hope in the squad to hopefully see memberships at least remain flat, and if we have a good first month of the season, numbers should swell. Limited prime-time exposure will hurt our ability to grow sponsorship revenue, which is why Good Friday will obviously remain a strategic imperative. Get that and a better stadium deal and we’re doing well.

I think this off season has been handled much better than last. You could argue that Dahl was a more loved player than Stringer but much less was made of the move. Better handling of the PR, both positive and negative, will give the club a chance to sell hope for 2019 and make it believable.

A great effort by all involved in running the club. Keep it up.

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Originally Posted by MrMahatma

Yes. On field performance will be a key to continued operating profits. There’s enough hope in the squad to hopefully see memberships at least remain flat, and if we have a good first month of the season, numbers should swell. Limited prime-time exposure will hurt our ability to grow sponsorship revenue, which is why Good Friday will obviously remain a strategic imperative. Get that and a better stadium deal and we’re doing well.

I think this off season has been handled much better than last. You could argue that Dahl was a more loved player than Stringer but much less was made of the move. Better handling of the PR, both positive and negative, will give the club a chance to sell hope for 2019 and make it believable.

A great effort by all involved in running the club. Keep it up.

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The full financial report mentioned that the drop off was largely due to 5000 free memberships no longer being given out.

So, if you factor in the +5000 freebies, we would have actually had a small amount of growth to our memberships this year (+593). Considering how terribly terrible we were in the opening two rounds and that the previous years figure was the one that followed the premiership, this is an amazing result.

FYI:

2013: 30209
2014: 31538 (+4.4% = 1329)
2015: 35222 (+11.7% = 3684)
2016: 40032 (+13.7% = 4810)
2017: 47653 (+19% = 7621)
2018: 43246 (-9.2% = -4407) with the extra 5000 would have been 0.01% growth = +593

After navigating to different articles to find the figures, I found the following page that charts each club from 1984-2016 (ours are only available from 1992).

http://footyindustry.com/files/afl/m...2016_aug13.png

I don't think membership numbers are overly important. They can be manipulated in so many ways - the free memberships mentioned, 3 game memberships, etc.

To me the only thing that really matters is revenue from memberships and despite the overall great financial result our membership revenue was well down ($7,587,609 in 2018, down $881,880 from $8,469,489 in 2017). I guess this was to be expected with the year we had and the inevitable drop off after the premiership glow had faded.

Considering the significant downturn in membership and merchandise revenue from 2017 it is a great result to actually increase our ordinary profit.

Remember when we didn't know if we even have a club in a few years time. This is the absolute opposite. Such a great feeling to know that the club we all love is financially stable and secure. Absolute credit and kudos to all those that have help put us in this powerful position.

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Originally Posted by angelopetraglia

Remember when we didn't know if we even have a club in a few years time. This is the absolute opposite. Such a great feeling to know that the club we all love is financially stable and secure. Absolute credit and kudos to all those that have help put us in this powerful position.

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Totally agree.

Time to get the on-field stuff right again after a couple of crappy years, but full confidence that we are on the right track in that regard.

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Originally Posted by angelopetraglia

Remember when we didn't know if we even have a club in a few years time. This is the absolute opposite. Such a great feeling to know that the club we all love is financially stable and secure. Absolute credit and kudos to all those that have help put us in this powerful position.

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I recall back when Norf won their flags back in the 1990’s, my mate’s dad (Norf supporters) expressing a bit of a hollow feeling in that, even then, they felt that their club was in a precarious position. Indeed, in 1996 they were close to merger with Fitzroy and only a handful of years post 1999, they looked to be headed to the Gold Coast.

Although the past couple of years have been underwhelming for us on field, we can at least reflect on the flag with some sense of security.

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Originally Posted by Axe Man

I don't think membership numbers are overly important. They can be manipulated in so many ways - the free memberships mentioned, 3 game memberships, etc.

To me the only thing that really matters is revenue from memberships and despite the overall great financial result our membership revenue was well down ($7,587,609 in 2018, down $881,880 from $8,469,489 in 2017). I guess this was to be expected with the year we had and the inevitable drop off after the premiership glow had faded.

Considering the significant downturn in membership and merchandise revenue from 2017 it is a great result to actually increase our ordinary profit.

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Most likely membership revenue is down due to drop off in Social club upgrades and reserve seating.

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Originally Posted by bornadog

Most likely membership revenue is down due to drop off in Social club upgrades and reserve seating.

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Yep and that's my point - the type of memberships sold (and the $$$ they generate) and far more important than the total numbers that the media love to talk about.

I think Gordon calls out Ledge saying people were yelling at him 'when are we going to get a bloody scoreboard?'

Another sport I know, but the contrast between us and Cronulla who won their first premiership in 2016 after 50 seasons in the NRL is unbelievable.

Unlike us, they have played finals in the two years since but their financial performance has been horrific. They apparently lost $3m this year and have been forced to engage in mass sackings of staff and are struggling on the sponsorship front.

Goes to show how well we have been managed off field since the premiership.

https://outline.com/J2dDW6

And that's without any pokies unlike the family club.

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Originally Posted by Testekill

And that's without any pokies unlike the family club.

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We've still got pokies but they are intending sell to them.

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Originally Posted by Axe Man

I don't think membership numbers are overly important. They can be manipulated in so many ways - the free memberships mentioned, 3 game memberships, etc.

To me the only thing that really matters is revenue from memberships and despite the overall great financial result our membership revenue was well down ($7,587,609 in 2018, down $881,880 from $8,469,489 in 2017). I guess this was to be expected with the year we had and the inevitable drop off after the premiership glow had faded.

Considering the significant downturn in membership and merchandise revenue from 2017 it is a great result to actually increase our ordinary profit.

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Pet memberships.

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Originally Posted by Mantis

Totally agree.

Time to get the on-field stuff right again after a couple of crappy years, but full confidence that we are on the right track in that regard.

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Almost beating Richmond with kindergarten kids. Wasn't too crappy.

What a brilliant result for the footy club, with Ameet as CEO we seem to have fantastic stability at the top of the club. He and Peter Gordon should be commended, we are no longer a struggling football club. The significance is not lost on this bulldog!

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Originally Posted by hujsh

I think Gordon calls out Ledge saying people were yelling at him 'when are we going to get a bloody scoreboard?'

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At least he listens to the people and didn’t say you should be watching the footy not protesting ;-)

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Originally Posted by Axe Man

Yep and that's my point - the type of memberships sold (and the $$$ they generate) and far more important than the total numbers that the media love to talk about.

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You need both - the direct dollars, and the weight of supporter numbers for sponsorships etc.