Chief Executive Officer David Johnston chats about club affairs in this interview with the official website -- you can listen to it here:

Darlington FC are pleased to provide a post AGM update to all supporters

Update on current trading from July 2019 to Feb 2020

Year to date operational revenues have increased due to growth in academy, retail & matchday income lines whilst on the cost side we expect playing staff costs to be broadly similar to last season. Exceptional football fortune income (cup runs & transfer fees) is £5,000 up on last year, with improved cup revenues offsetting the reduction in transfer fee income. Overall we expect to make an operational loss this year, albeit a potentially smaller one than in recent years.

This loss will be bridged by equity investment from the supporter-owners DFCSG via Boost The Budget and David Johnston’s recently announced investment.

Early Bird season ticket sales have started well with sales comfortably ahead of this time last season and at broadly similar levels to 2018 sales. The outcome of Early Bird sales alongside Boost The Budget for 20/21 and commercial performance across the summer will determine our budgeting for the 20/21 season.

Overall the football club is in a stronger position than this time last season, however there is much work still to do to improve our financial position & performance. The business has run operational losses consistently since 2012. These have been bridged by one off income items from loans, transfer fees, cup runs or by forward selling revenue items like the 500 Club. This is not something that can continue indefinitely going forward and we are working hard to drive increases in revenues whilst carefully managing our costs and looking to strengthen our balance sheet.

Matchday revenues (excluding cup fixtures): We budgeted for static attendances this season.  Overall matchday revenues are up marginally year on year thanks to a small increase in aggregate attendance to date.

Disappointingly hospitality revenues are down year on year despite an increase in the headline price. We also increased hospitality costs this season to provide an improved experience. The net effect is that hospitality is only marginally profitable this season.

Football fortune income: This is income from cup runs and/or transfer fees. Up £5k year-on-year. Profits from our cup runs came to £123k (gate, prize money, tv money), up £112k from 2019. Transfer income is down £107k from last season.

Commercial: Both revenue and P&L are up year-on-year, with net profit at £37k versus £31k in same period last year. Whilst this is an improvement in headline figures it is below expectations.

Our existing long-term sponsors are fantastic, and we want to work together with them to grow our relationships.

We are pleased that given only 6 of our first 12 home league games were sponsored, all remaining games bar the postponed Leamington game now have both match and ball sponsors.

Retail:

Sales are up over 20% year-on-year thanks to an expanded range and sale of the match worn FA Cup shirts. Over 100 retro shirts have been pre-sold since they went on sale on March 2^nd.

Academy:

Revenue is up marginally year-on-year thanks to an increased number of students.

Other:

Lottery income (50/50 + Fans lottery) and league distribution will both make similar contributions as shown in the 18/19 accounts. We don’t expect any substantial donations in the current financial year.

We would like to thank all our fans and volunteers for their ongoing fantastic support.