Preston North End Finances 2023/24

Being Boring

Preston North End’s 2023/24 financial results covered a season when they finished 10th in the Championship, two places better than the previous year, though they were eliminated in their first match in both domestic cups.

Manager Ryan Lowe left the club by mutual consent just one match into this season, replaced by the experienced Paul Heckingbottom.

League Position

In the nine seasons since Preston were promoted to the Championship they have finished between 7th and 14th, so have become the very definition of a mid-table club.

On the one hand, this has to be considered a decent achievement, as they have to compete with far fewer resources than most of their rivals; on the other hand, a recent open letter from a couple of fan groups described Preston as “the most boring club in the EFL”.

They added, “While we appreciate the Hemmings family’s financial support, the club’s leadership raises serious questions.”

Like all football clubs in the Championship, especially those without parachute payments, Preston face a number of challenges, so let’s take a look at the state of their finances.

Profit/(Loss) 2023/24

Preston’s pre-tax loss was virtually unchanged at £14.3m, even though revenue rose £1.3m (9%) from £15.6m to £16.9m, a new club high. Profit from player sales halved from £0.8m to just £0.4m, while operating expenses increased by £0.9m (3%) to £31.6m.

Interestingly, the club focused on the improvement in the loss after tax, which reduced by £2.3m (19%) from £12.2m to £9.9m. This was because the tax credit more than doubled from £2.2m to £4.5m.

There was growth across the board, as all three revenue streams set new club records. The largest increase was in broadcasting, which rose £0.8m (9%) from £8.7m to £9.5m, while match day was up £0.4m (12%) from £3.9m to £4.3m. In addition, commercial was slightly higher, up £0.1m (2%) to £3.1m.

However, Preston’s revenue increase was largely eaten up by cost growth, as wages rose £0.4m (2%) from £21.6m to £22.0m, though player amortisation was flat at £2.1m. Depreciation was up by a third from £0.9m to £1.2m, while other expenses grew £0.2m (3%) to £6.4m.

Only two Championship club have to date published accounts for 2023/24, but we can see that Preston’s £14.3m pre-tax loss is pretty normal for this division, looking at other clubs’ results from the previous season. In fact, continuing Preston’s theme of recent years, the loss can be described as mid-table.

To place this into perspective, no fewer than six clubs lost more than £20m in 2022/23, namely Burnley £36m, Sheffield United £31m, Birmingham City £25m, Bristol City £22m, Blackburn Rovers £21m and QPR £20m.