Bohemian FC Financial update 2015-2017

Background

Bohemian FC are owned by "The Bohemian Football Club CLG" 8751. This is the oldest company in the league with it having been created in 1937 and Bohs have always used this as the trading entity. Bohs are a 100% members owned club and have been since they were formed in 1890. Bohs originally owned Dalymount Park but today they are a tenant in the stadium after they sold it to the council to resolve old debt issues. More on that later.  In the 3 years covered by the accounts Bohs finished 5th, 8th and 5th again. In talking about the recent 3 years I will refer to the previous years as they are important to understand where the club was coming from. While a lot of clubs restarted in the 2000's Bohs did not due to the ownership of Dalymount.

Profit & Loss

The P&L for Bohs over the last 3 years is impressive on first viewing. Per the accounts Bohs made a profit of +€1.7m from 2015 to 2017 however as the table below shows most of this was in 2015 and most was exceptional to do with the sale of Dalymount and the restructure of debt. When you exclude this exceptional income Bohs made a profit of +€79k over the 3 seasons.

At the end of the 2011 season due to the debt Bohs had incurred in "chasing the dream" there was a real fear that Bohs might not come back for the 2012 season. Thankfully Bohs did come back in 2012 and since then Bohs have run at a modest profit. Sadly in the previous 6 season's Bohs lost (€5.2m) and thus built up a lot of debt. In this 6 seasons Bohs had some success with 2 league win and 1 FAI cup win but it came at a very steep cost. The reason for the spending was due to the sale of Dalymount to Liam Carroll in 2006 for €65m https://www.independent.ie/irish-news/bohemians-say-yes-to-the-sale-of-dalymount-park-in-65m-deal-26363606.html Unfortunately due to a couple of issues but mainly the property downturn this deal never closed and Bohs were left with Dalymount but also a big debt due to borrowing on the strength of the sale in the Celtic tiger.

Bohs like most clubs don't give a detailed P&L so I can't comment on the numbers in any detail like the Cork City accounts, but the revenue at Bohs in 2017 was its best since 2012 so the club is moving in the right direction, gates are up 35% in 2018 v 2016 http://www.extratime.ie/articles/21267/league-of-ireland-attendances-2018----the-story-so-far/ but still below 4 or 5 other clubs.

As a result of this since 2012 to 2016 Bohs primary focus was staying in the premier division while trying to resolve the debt legacy issues. Per the blog post on the league in general Bohs are no longer one of the big spenders on wages and as a result the league position has slipped back from the 2006 to 2011 era. https://leagueofirelandfinance.blogspot.com/2018/08/2015-2016-premier-division-accounts.html Bohs have no external benefactor, nor any European football in this 3 year period so have just run at breakeven in that time. The real story of the last 3 years relates to the Balance sheet and is covered below.

Balance Sheet

At the end of Nov'14 which is the start of this 3 year period, Bohs had ran up accumulated debts of (€6.2m) and the principle asset they owned was Dalmount Park. Per the submitted accounts the principle debts were a (€4.4m) bank loan and members loans of nearly (€0.8m). This legacy debt, there since the end of 2011 was putting a strain on the club due to the uncertainty as to when the bank would call in its loan.

In the P&L to 2015 you will note above an exceptional income of circa +€1.7m and this relates to the resolution of the debt issues. At the end of Nov'15 Bohs debt was reduced to (€0.4m) but the ground was now sold to the council. https://www.independent.ie/sport/soccer/league-of-ireland/council-strikes-34m-deal-to-buy-dalymount-park-31075591.html Almost all of the net debt was then owed to members who contributed to fund the sale with members being owed circa (€0.35m) of the debt above. The exceptional item comes about in the fact in doing the deal with the banks and creditors, write downs on debt of circa +€1.5m was made by the club. There was also a small profit on the disposal of Dalymount of +€150k due to the carrying value in the books at the end of Nov'14 compared to the disposal price in 2015. 

Given that Bohs made circa +€50k profit over 2016 & 2017 combined the debt position at Bohs has remained fairly similar to the position at the end of 2015. However most of this debt is owed to member rather than 3rd parties which gives Bohs some comfort.

Summary

During the 2015 year Bohs future was sorted thanks to the efforts of the then board, members, the FAI and the local politicians. On top of that the future of Dalymount was resolved with the famous ground set to remain a football stadium and with the council to start work on a new stadium in 2020. In the last 6 years (2012 to 2017) Bohs have run a prudent budget with the club making small profits most of those years, excluding exceptional items & interest that was rolled up and ultimately written off in 2015. Given the losses in the previous 6 years it is no surprise that the club has been run in this manner.

Overall though while not a successful 3 years on the pitch a very successful 3 years off the pitch financially. The challenge for Bohs now is how do they compete with the likes of the clubs that a) have regular European income or b) have a benefactor. Bohs came close in 2017 to a 4th place finish that would have had them in Europe in 2018 but ultimately finished 4 points behind Derry for that spot. This is a challenge that 5/6 clubs in the premier division will have in the coming seasons as the income from Europe increases.