LONDON: The England and Wales Cricket Board has reported a record turnover of £228 million in financial results for 2019-20 announced Tuesday at ECB’s annual general meeting (AGM).
This is an increase of £56m from 2018, which included a men’s tour of India, when it reached a turnover of £172m. It is also considerably higher than an average year which yields approximately £125m turnover.
The group’s administrative expenditure at £164m was an increase of £22m as compared to the prior year at £142m, this increase was largely due to special fee distributions paid to each of the First-Class Counties in respect of ICC Men’s World Cup 2019. Additional distributions also included a £3m distribution to the Team England Player Partnership (TEPP) and a £15.7m donation to the England and Wales Cricket Trust (EWCT).
This FYE resulted in a profit of £6.5m which was a £5.7m increase on the ECB board’s approved budget of £800,000. This boost in profit enabled the ECB’s reserves to increase to £17.1mn from last year’s £11.2m.
Commenting, Scott Smith, chief financial officer for the ECB, said: “The success of hosting the CWC19 and Men’s and Women’s Ashes on home soil saw us achieve record revenues for the game, and allowed us to distribute more funding across the game than ever before. With the impact of COVID-19 these results are somewhat bittersweet, but it is nonetheless extremely positive to know that with the right conditions, the game can continue to grow financial momentum for its stakeholders.”
AGM ratifies Ian Watmore’s appointment as ECB chair
The AGM also saw the ECB’s 41 members voting unanimously to ratify Ian Watmore’s appointment as ECB chair.
With the last stage of his appointment process concluded, Watmore will step into the role in September. He succeeds current ECB chair Colin Graves, following a successful five-year tenure that saw England lift two ODI ICC Cricket World Cups, as well as securing a record £1.1 billion media rights deal.
In addition to the ratification, it was confirmed that senior independent director Kamlesh Patel will step down as the SID after serving over five years. A replacement will be identified in the coming months.
Patel was involved in a number of significant changes during his term, most notably the creation of the 2018 action plan to engage South Asian audiences, in addition to establishing the ECB’s governance committee and being a key voice in the creation of the Inspiring Generations Strategy.
