Legacy helps Sussex post profit

Sussex have announced a post-tax surplus of £203,534 for the year ended October 31, 2008. An operating deficit was covered by interest earned on bank deposits.

Within the figures, the club also received £356,972 as the last installment of the Spen Cama legacy and wrote off exceptional expenditure of £328,703 that had been incurred to date in the ground redevelopment project at Hove.

"In some respects, the trading performance was disappointing, as we failed to achieve our income forecasts in 2008," the chairman Sussex Jim May admitted. "However, we are pleased that Dave Brooks, who has a strong commercial background from industry, was appointed chief executive of Sussex last month, with a brief to drive our income to support our successful cricket set up. We have a clear aim to break even at the operating level within three years, something we are confident we can achieve despite the challenging financial climate.

"In these numbers, we have taken the opportunity to write off the development costs incurred to date although the planning permission granted does have value and we have undertaken work that will be useful in the future."