The current limited company (NI601341) that runs Derry City FC was incorporated in Nov'09 following the financial troubles of the previous company that owned Derry City, Wellvan Enterprises Ltd. Wellvan was officially would up in the summer of 2017.
Derry City have circa 158 individual shareholders that own the club with ownership ranging from 1 share to 200 shares per the last annual return submitted with 11,043 ordinary shares issued. Most of the shareholders own 50 shares each. In affect its like a members owned club but will different people having slightly more power than others. The club chairman only has 42 of the issued shares.
Over the 3 years to 30th November 2017 Derry City have shown a P&L trading loss of (£25,356). The company made a loss in 2015 of (£5,732) a further loss of (£34,565) in 2016 and lastly a profit in 2017 of +£14,941. No P&L is included in the submission so not possible to understand any trend changes here.
At the end of November'17 the balance sheet is in a relatively healthy position with assets of £162k and liabilities of (£117k) so it has a surplus in the balance sheet. For any league of Ireland club, this is a very good position to be in. Derry have no longer term liabilities and don't owe any of the directors any money, which is relevant to the point below. The main assets of Derry at Nov'17 were cash in bank of £63k and debtors of £80k. The liabilities are not broken down. Derry do not own the Brandywell so the balance sheet is quiet small as you would expect.
However the club is heavily financed by one shareholder and current chairman Phil O'Doherty. Over the 3 years to Nov'17 O'Doherty has donated £593k (2015 £ 65k, 2016 £225k and 2017 £303k) to Derry City which has helped Derry run at a small loss. Also Derry City have donations from the "Derry City FC Development Committee" which don't file accounts which have also donated £271k (2015 £142k, 2016 £113k and 2017 £16k) in the last 3 years to the club. Per the accounts O'Doherty also donates to this committee but how much of this money has come from him is not disclosed but you would imagine from the figures that he is funding the club directly in later years as the monies from the development committee have declined as his donations to the club have gone up. All these monies go through the P&L in some form, either as donations or sponsorship which is very good for Derry as they have no residual debt on these monies as a result.
Derry were not in Europe in the summer of 2015 or 2016 but did enter the Europa league qualifying stages in 2017. In the accounts to Nov'17 they would have had income of €215k that was not included in the previous 2 years but also had the disadvantage of playing all games away from The Brandywell due to a rebuild ongoing. They also qualified in 2018 for the Europa League again which will be worth circa €220k in the Nov'18 accounts.
Overall the accounts would show that Derry City FC as it currently operating is very dependent on the club chairman. He has invested at least £593k over the last 3 financial years to mixed success which shows how hard it is to progress in the league. This ties in with increased ticket prices for this years Europa League game and his warning in the summer https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-northern-ireland-foyle-west-44735832 about the clubs future financial security. Without his donations the club would be trading at a loss of (£618k) in 2015 to 2017 with only a 3rd and 4th spot to show for this level of losses. Derry will either need to find sustainable revenue streams in the coming years in order to stay at the level they are playing Budget wise or they will have to reduce the playing budget if O'Doherty does indeed want the club to become more sustainable. Missing out of Europe and circa €220k in 2019 would be a big blow to a club like Derry and how they are trading today.
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