Background
This will be a very short post as the company that run Waterford FC (Power Grade Ltd 594819) was only incorporated on 14th December 2016 when Lee Power acquired the club following financial difficulties at the old club http://www.the42.ie/lee-power-waterford-united-3081677-Nov2016/. Power is the only shareholder and the accounts to Nov'17 are the only ones filed to date. In that year to November'17 Waterford won the first division by 8 points from Cobh Ramblers. Waterford play their home games at the Waterford RSC which is owned by Waterford City & County council, so like most clubs they don't own their home ground.
Profit & Loss
In 2017 Waterford lost (289k) in winning division 1. This is a little lower than Limerick the previous season, who although on paper made a profit they got exceptional support from their owner and without that they would have lost circa (€400k). As this is the first season for the company there is not much else to discuss regarding the P&L. Its a hefty loss to just get out of the first division and I imagine the loss will be greater in 2018 as even though they have been very strong they have no European money etc yet to reduce the losses. In the going concern note Lee Power has agreed to fund the club for another 12 months so there was no going concern issue as a result.
Balance Sheet
Again the balance sheet of Waterford is very simple as it is only finished 1 year of trading. The company has a deficit of (€289k) in line with its loss for the year. There are really 2 items of note apart from the loss. Firstly in terms of liabilities, the main liability is a director loan from Lee Power where the company owes him (€431k) at Nov'17. This loan in affect covered the losses in the year as explained above and also the company have an intangible asset related to the of the Waterford FC brand etc. This goodwill cost €155k and is being written off over 10 years to at Nov'17 there was an asset of €140k in the balance sheet.
Summary
Waterford, like Limerick the season before them, invested a lot to get out of Division 1 and ran up a big loss in doing so. It is an interesting strategy as unlike England when getting promoted from the championship equals a big pay day, in Ireland getting promoted almost means bigger losses. It will be interesting to see how the story at Waterford develops, obviously 2018 so far has been very positive on the pitch and they may make Europe for 2019. But as Pats/Rovers and Derry showed, even having a round or two in Europe does not guarantee profits. Like other clubs they have a benefactor to fund these losses so again that puts them in a strong position.
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