Derbyshire County Cricket Club recorded its ninth surplus in ten years for the year ending 31 December 2022, as the Club announced it is debt free two years ahead of schedule.

The Club has announced a pre-tax surplus of £174,000 in 2022, which follows three years of positive financial results and have now achieved a key objective of becoming debt free significantly ahead of the 2024 target.

Chairman, Ian Morgan OBE, said: “The Club exceeded its financial targets once again in 2022. We had budgeted for a small surplus of around £50,000, but were able to achieve three times this in a challenging year, during which the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic were still being felt, coupled with the rising costs all business are facing across the board.

“This positive result has ensured the Club is in a strong position and now debt free, following four years of large surpluses. It is great credit to the tireless work of our executive team, off-field staff and the continued support of a number of key stakeholders, including our commercial partners and Members, to whom we owe our gratitude.”

The Club started to see a return of revenues to more pre-pandemic levels and particularly in ticketing, had a large revenue surplus versus budget.

Chief Executive, Ryan Duckett, said: “In 2020 and 2021 we very much had to lockdown the business to reduce costs; ticket income, commercial sponsorship and conference and events revenues were severely affected, but thankfully we have been able to rebuild the business over the last 12 months, back to pre-pandemic levels and in certain areas beyond.

“Having achieved our objective of becoming debt free we now have strong foundations to build on the positive progress made by Mickey Arthur and the squad last year on the field and further invest in our facilities.”

Chief Financial Officer, Tim Baker, added: “The Club has budgeted for another small surplus in 2023, with a focus on trying to manage rising costs in an increasingly challenging economic climate. We are mindful that 2023 will be a tough year financially and will continue to look for ways to grow our revenues and manage our costs to maintain this healthy financial position and ultimately continue investment in facilities and the cricket budget.”

The Club has delivered on the objective, set by the Board of Directors, to be debt free apart from a long-term mortgage by the end of 2024, two years ahead of the planned schedule. This was achieved by paying in excess of £2,000,000 of loan repayments over the last few years linked to the building of the WDS Business and Media Centre.

The Club’s Annual Report and Accounts were approved by Members at the Annual General Meeting on Wednesday 29 March at The Incora County Ground.

Derbyshire will be returning to Chesterfield this Summer for the annual Chesterfield Festival of Cricket. Find out more about the event here: https://www.chesterfield.co.uk/events/the-chesterfield-festival-of-cricket/

The club supports the marketing and economic growth of the town through Chesterfield Champions, a network of over 200 organisations across Chesterfield and North Derbyshire.