Surrey announce pre-tax loss

Surrey's status as the most financially stable county in English cricket has taken a blow after the club announced a pre-tax loss of £502,000 for the 2010 financial year.

In a press release, the club described 2010 as a "very challenging year" with turnover down £5m on the previous year to £20.5m, but insisted that the prospects for 2011 are much improved, not least with a lucrative Test and ODI against India set to swell the coffers in the second half of the summer.

In recent years, Surrey's strong financial footing has come from a number of schemes which included selling the naming rights to the ground and the construction of the OCS stand at the Vauxhall End of the ground. The club also benefits from a long-term staging agreement with the ECB and in 2005 and 2009 hosted deciding Ashes Tests.

That deal has allowed the county to spend large sums on attracting big-name players to The Oval including Steven Davies, Kevin Pietersen and Chris Tremlett. However, there has been no swift upturn in results with the club still stuck in the second division of the County Championship, and earlier this year the long-term chief executive Paul Sheldon announced he was leaving the club.

Aside from the global financial situation, Surrey believed that their profits were hit by the scheduling of last season's Test against Pakistan, which began on a Wednesday for the first time in the club's history, and which preceded the following week's fourth and final Test at Lord's - two factors which impacted on ticket sales and hospitality. In addition, the lure of the football World Cup in June meant that crowds for Surrey's Twenty20 campaign were down.

However, the club's new chairman Richard Thompson remained upbeat: "The start to the 2011 year has been one of the strongest for the club ever. For the India Test and ODI, we are tracking above an Ashes series which is un-heard of. We are confident that we've put in place measures that will return us to profit.

"2010 was a difficult year across cricket in general, and all sports suffered a downturn in corporate hospitality. We are beginning to see the market improve."