Edited Press Release
The turnover at Ascot Racecourse exceeded £100 million for the first time with a strong recovery from COVID-19 last season. The return to profit will allow for record prize money of £17 million set to be returned to the sport in 2023 and a voluntary increased loan repayment will help reduce debt ahead of schedule. The 2022 business summary highlighted several points of improvement:
- A return to profit with a pre-tax profit of £3.4m after two difficult years of COVID-19 restrictions. This compares to a pre-COVID profit of £7.3m in 2019, highlighting significantly increased overheads and operating costs in the current economic climate.
- Turnover rose by 161% to a record level of £101.4m with hospitality and admission revenues recovering strongly.
- Attendance at Royal Ascot 2022 bounced back from COVID disruption to 273,465 with a total for the full year, excluding industry joint venture QIPCO British Champions Day, of 483,424.
- Strong broadcast reach: World Pool turnover and international interest helped grow diverse revenue streams. Royal Ascot 2022 was broadcast into over 170 territories including NBC terrestrial coverage in America on the Saturday, reaching 2.5 million unique viewers, up 47% on 2021.
- The loan agreement was renewed during the year and the term of the loan was extended by a minimum of three years.
- £6m of the loan was repaid in 2022 (a £3m mandatory repayment and a voluntary partial early repayment of £3m) and the revolving credit facility of £5m, drawn down in March 2020, was repaid. Net debt at 31st December 2022 was £17.2m (2020 £25.4m).
- The standby loan facility of £20m arranged through the Government CLBILS scheme remained undrawn during the year and matured at the end of April 2023. This was replaced by a revolving credit facility of £12.5m which remains undrawn.
- Strong 2022 performance enabled record planned prize money in 2023 with £17m set to be on offer, an increase of £1.33m versus 2022. This excludes the £4.45m on offer at the industry joint venture fixture, QIPCO British Champions Day. Prize money at Royal Ascot 2023 was £9.52m, an increase of 10% over 2022.
Alastair Warwick, Chief Executive Officer at Ascot Racecourse, said:
“The figures for 2022 show that Ascot has recovered strongly from the impact of the pandemic. Last year's performance, headlined by record turnover, gave us the confidence to invest in the business this year, including reaching the £17m prize money mark for the first time.
“Having further reduced our debt, including through a voluntary additional repayment, we are in a good position to continue to improve both prize money and facilities.
“We are particularly encouraged to have seen strong attendance and hospitality metrics at Royal Ascot this year, the first under the reign of King Charles III. We had incredibly competitive, international fields and World Pool betting continues to be strong while viewing figures on ITV were excellent, including a peak of over a million every day and a ten year high for the final day.
“Their Majesties The King & Queen attended on all five days and it proved to be a very special occasion with Desert Hero carrying the Royal silks to victory, whilst Frankie Dettori signed off his Royal Ascot story with a ninth Gold Cup win.
“I would like to thank all our hard-working staff and our commercial and broadcast partners for their continued commitment to Ascot.”
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