Jockey Club faces major plunge in revenue and profits following pandemic

Covid-19 is expected to reduce the Jockey Club's revenues by more than £170 million over two years as British racing's largest commercial group revealed its latest set of financial figures.

Revenues at the Jockey Club fell by £93.8m according to their results for 2020, reducing by 43 per cent to £122.7m from £216.5m in 2019. The reduction is expected to be around £80m this year.

Core operating profits dropped to £1.5m last year from £20.5m in 2019, despite the Jockey Club being able to stage events including the Cheltenham Festival in the opening months of 2020.

However, between mid-March and the start of June 2020 no racing took place, after which the vast majority of meetings were run behind closed doors. Conferences and other events staged at the Jockey Club's 15 racecourses were also cancelled or postponed.

The Jockey Club was able to reduce its net debt to £89.9m from £95.9m in 2019 through an operational restructure, cost saving and retaining cash.

Jockey Club group chief executive Nevin Truesdale

Jockey Club group chief executive Nevin Truesdale said: "The pandemic not only presented a huge challenge for organisations across all sectors in 2020 but it has also been a difficult time for people on a personal level. I'm proud of the way we have managed this crisis, keeping the organisation away from financial peril and particularly of the resilience shown by our people.

"Once racing was able to restart without spectators from June 1 last year that opened up non-spectator revenues such as media but it also incurred many millions of pounds in costs to put on the events and support as much prize-money funding as we could, in line with what the Jockey Club is all about."

With early 2021 meetings taking place without spectators, including the Cheltenham Festival, the Jockey Club is also forecasting a hefty fall in revenues this year, although not to the extent of 2020.

"With no spectators until May this year our revenues will probably be around £80 million less than 2019, so that's a turnover impact in excess of £170 million over two years," Truesdale said.

"We've prioritised putting as much back into the sport through prize-money as we possibly can as we know how important that is for participants and that’s seen us able to return prize-money levels to pre-pandemic levels for the final part of this year.

"We will be on the road to recovery for some time and the pandemic impact is not yet in the rear-view mirror but we believe we've put ourselves on a solid footing and exciting days are ahead."

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