Kingstone Press Championship club Rochdale Hornets may be in line for relegation this season, but that should hold no fears for the club financially, to judge from its accounts for the year ended 30 November 2013, when the Hornets were last in Championship One.
Earlier this week the club announced a record profit of £25,157 for the year ending November 2013.
Chairman Mark Wynn hailed the year as “the best yet” for the fan-owned Hornets, as the hosting of a sell-out Rugby League World Cup fixture, on field success and the largest community programme ever all contributed towards financial success and the Hornets being given Honorary Freeman of the Borough by Rochdale Metropolitan Borough Council.
Ryan Bradley, Chief Executive, commented “In 2012 the club recorded a record loss of £38,845. Expenditure was tightly controlled but the income just never came in. We put a lot of effort into raising income in 2013. We nearly trebled our sponsor portfolio by improving our corporate match day experience and the income into the community programme via grants improved six fold, meaning we could meet more people and promote the club on a wider level.
“As a result, gate receipts doubled from the previous year and this offset the reduction in funding received centrally from the RFL. The donations received from the clubs lottery was slightly down, but in line with national trend while the donations received from our memberships remained stable. It was a fantastic year for the club and proves that our supporter owned cooperative model is sustainable and can give us success.”
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