Gillingham’s latest accounts reveal a pre-tax loss of over £2m during a year of major change for the club – but there’s plenty to be positive about.
The recently released annual accounts cover the 2022/23 season, a year which saw the Galinsons take over a majority control of the club, saving the Gills from relegation into non-league and a fate which could have been a whole lot worse.
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During the takeover, Priestfield Stadium was sold to GFC Holdings – the holding company of the football club – for £17.46m. There was a tax credit of around £2.7m, which turned the year’s loss into a £600k profit.
The Galinsons – husband and wife Brad and Shannon – injected £1m into the business through an issue of shares while also paying off some of the club’s long-term debts and funding some key additions in the January transfer window.
On the pitch, then-manager Neil Harris managed to gel those January additions quickly, as the team rose from the foot of League 2 and eventually into a comfortable mid-table position by the end of the season.
The accounts show that a large chunk of the £1.8m owed to Three Directors Ltd – a company that includes former chairman and now minority owner Paul Scally, former director Michael Quarrington and ex-vice chairman Michael Anderson – had been paid. That had been reduced to £600,000.
A loan taken out by the club from the EFL to see them through the Covid crisis, payable in instalments, had been reduced to £209,166. The club had in the previous year also benefited from government grants amounting to close to £700,000, which came about as clubs struggled without fans at games during various lockdowns.
Capital repayments in the year amounted to just over £1.5m.
Turnover for the season was £6.3m – up from £5.5m the year before although higher costs meant less profit.
Mr Scally – who remains a GFC club director and part owner – was paid £60,718 for consultancy services during the season and in addition, Hatcham Management Limited, of which he is the sole director, invoiced the company £83,333 for consultancy services.
The accounts also note that one of Mr Scally’s daughters paid the club £3,746 in relation to a car lease.
As part of the ground sale, GFC are now paying rent to GFC Holdings. That was £41,667 over the year.
One of Mr Galinson’s big calls for the club was to invest in LED pitchside advertising, at a cost of £287,370. Those advertising opportunities have proved popular and managing director Joe Comper has said that the take-up of renewals for the forthcoming season was 90%.
Ticket sale income during 2023 was almost identical to the year before, at £2.878,792 while commercial activity brought in an additional £556,753.
The GFC School, which operates inside Priestfield, will be closing this summer but the accounts showed how valuable that had been to the club, with a turnover of £797,986 in the year’s accounts.
The shop income increased from £172k to £219k while the youth academy generated close to £600k.
Banqueting and catering income saw a big jump, up to £580k while TV and radio revenue was £245k and transfer fees added an additional £375k.
With January additions, it was no surprise to see the wages and salaries increase, up from £3.6m to £4m. The club paid out just over £200k for players.
With the Galinsons now at the helm, and willing to invest, the future does look brighter for the club and fans are showing their faith, with season ticket sales already close to breaking last season’s figure.
The club have also announced that all 20 executive boxes are sold out for the forthcoming season and they sold over 1,000 replica shirts within 24 hours of them being on sale. In addition, the Community Trust is returning. The Gills were the only team in the Football League to be without one.
Mr Comper said: “The community foundation is important in continuing that growth, finding the fans of the future, getting the Gillingham badge throughout Medway rather than people seeing Man Utd or Man City.
“We want people wearing Gillingham shirts and coming to watch their local team. The community foundation is a great way for us to build those foundations so those numbers can keep flying.”
The club are continuing to invest in their Priestfield ground, meanwhile, with a new players’ lounge, upgrades to the changing rooms and a reorganisation of the internal offices which will see coaching staff from the academy, first team and recruitment team all on one level.
