Annual Review and Outlook 2019
Group Business Performance
The following financial information has been extracted from the audited financial statements of The Jockey Club for the year ended 31 December 2018.
CONTINUED GROWTH + REINVESTMENT
In 2018, The Jockey Club delivered a tenth consecutive year of revenue growth, with Group turnover up by 6.7% year-on- year to a new record £214.6 million (2017: £201.1 million). This represented an increase in turnover of 68.2% over the past decade and enabled us to contribute a record £27.1 million to prize money last year. As the most significant contributor to the Group’s turnover, Jockey Club Racecourses had another strong year, notably seeing continued growth at our large Festivals. With attendance increases in 2018 at The Festival at Cheltenham and the Randox Health Grand National Festival at Aintree, those seven days delivered more than £1 million in additional profits compared to 2017, with increased sponsorship revenues accounting for more than £0.4 million of this. The QIPCO Guineas also saw impressive year-on-year growth, while attendances at The Investec Derby Festival were 4,000 higher than in 2017. However, the final result of the latter was impacted by the entries being skewed towards yearling entries rather than three year-old and supplementary entries. This was the first stage in what turned out to be a challenging summer for British Racing, with the football World Cup and the sustained period of warm weather both impacting attendances through June to August. Although our courses significantly out- performed the rest of the industry, there were adverse impacts on both attendances and field sizes at The Moët & Chandon July Festival, The Coral-Eclipse and summer Saturdays at both Newmarket and Haydock Park. This was followed by a strong recovery in the autumn period with late season field sizes at our Flat racing courses particularly impressive. The year also finished strongly with an impressive autumn Jumps season, including good returns on admissions and hospitality at the Betfair Chase at Haydock Park and the Betfair Tingle Creek at Sandown Park.
£27.1m Record prize money contributed in 2018
10yrs Consecutive years of commercial growth
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