Preliminary Financial Update For Members: Financial Year Ending 30 April 2020.
Introduction
As the regular season finished in April, albeit a disrupted and truncated season due to the COVID restrictions, the Board of Management thought members would be interested to receive a general update on the Club’s financial position. Of course this is not intended as a formal financial year report which will be provided as part of the Annual Report and presented at the AGM once the Club’s audit is complete.
Summary
The Board is very pleased to report that notwithstanding our charitable bushfire efforts, inclement weather and COVID related impacts on key fund raising and sponsorship activities, the Club is on track to deliver a substantial cash surplus at the conclusion of this financial year.
Comments
On the revenue side: donations, grants and merchandise were higher than budgeted and higher than achieved in the prior financial year. Despite being forced to close and cancel bookings for the last 2 months of the financial year, Clubhouse functions revenue and profit also exceeded budget and prior year levels. This was driven by very strong bookings and a more profitable business mix in the first 10 months of the year. While it is disappointing that we have been unable to host Sunday drinks since March, it was great that increased attendance saw member bar sales up on the prior year.
On the expense side: after a spate of necessary additional expenditure last year, repairs and maintenance expenses returned to more normal levels. In addition, we avoided significant utility and cleaning costs with the Club shutdown and availed ourselves of the Commonwealth Job Keeper benefit for our paid staff and received a refund of income tax withheld on wages. Though it gives us no joy, several significant cost items were not incurred this season due to COVID restrictions, including the Australian Championships, some other carnivals and various social activities, such as the end of season party and Nipper presentation night. However, while the Club has been closed, our strong financial position has enabled us to undertake some improvements to the Youth Room, Sauna and Gym and we expect to deliver the under-promenade storage (ARLF) on budget before the start of the new season.
The final outcome for the 2019/2020 financial year will be determined once our audit is completed but overall we remain well positioned to provide full member services as usual and to prudently provision for future plant, and equipment replacements. We anticipate the disruption and restrictions will soon come to an end and that our Clubhouse function activities will return to normal.
We wish to thank our fellow members for their patience and our sponsors for sticking with us through this difficult period.
Danny Ekins Andrew Christopher
Finance Director President
