Wolves post £20m profit while debts are up in new club accounts

Financial results revealed that for the year ended May 2019, the club owes parent company Fosun £131m – up by £56m from the previous year.

A total of £210m (compared to £122m in 2018) is owed to creditors.

Wolves' pre-tax profit of £19.96m comes after a £57m loss the previous year –the season in which they won promotion from the Championship.

Returning to the top flight made the difference, with a whopping £145m distributed by the Premier League making up a large chunk of an overall turnover of £172.5m – up from £26.4m.

The turnover was also helped by Wolves' season-ticket numbers increasing to the maximum available, 22,500, and average league attendance of 31,030.

A total of £11.5m came in from gate receipts, while income from sponsorship and advertising, broadcasting rights and commercial increased significantly as well.

Wolves' wages – paid to 365 staff – are up to £92m, meaning they spent 53 per cent of their income on wages – a big decrease from the 192 per cent spent in the 2017/18 term.

Of the £92m wage costs, almost £81m went to the club's 87 playing staff. Wolves' first team received an average wage of £42,000 a week – the fourth-lowest in the top flight.

Over the period, Wolves invested heavily in the playing squad, signing Joao Moutinho, Adama Traore, Rui Patricio, Willy Boly, Ruben Vinagre and Jonny Castro Otto – resulting in a net player trading loss of £25.8m.

Since last May, Wolves have also 'secured additional financing facilities totalling £50m'.

That was a loan taken out with Australian financial services giant Macquarie Group to fund operational costs, as reported by the Express & Star in October.

The loan was approved on the back of the impending multi-million pound income due to come into Molineux from the Premier League’s central fund.

It is understood the loan will aid costs involved in running the club while Wolves await instalments totalling around £130m, due to finishing seventh in the league last season.

Also documented in the club's 'post balance sheet events' is the fact they have since acquired £95m worth of players.

In the club's review of developments and future prospects, they stated: "In the year under review, the club competed in the Premier League, the first year back in the Premier League since 2012.

"This year saw a continuation of strong investment into developing the squad, and ultimately proved successful, resulting in a seventh-placed finish in the league with 57 points, the best achieved by the club in the top division since 1979/80.

"The club have invested further in both the first team and development squads, and the supporting infrastructure and facilities throughout the summer."

The club added: "Going forward, the aim for the club is to establish themselves as strong contenders for qualification for European club competition year-on-year.

"The directors have a continued commitment to continuously improve the club. The directors consider prospects for the company to be excellent."