WICB make US$3.6m profit

The profit for WICB was based on gross revenues of $25.8 million, an increase of 24 percent over the prior year. The major underlying reasons for the increase included the television rights fees from the first year of the BSkyB television contract signed in 2000 and the record gate receipts from the England to West Indies 2004 Home Series.

The audited statements, which were presented to the members of the WICB at the annual general meeting on August 7, 2005, revealed the consolidated net loss of $3.4 million for the group.

This was due to the expected expenses of the wholly-owned subsidiary, ICC CWC West Indies 2007 Inc, which was set up to manage the staging of the Cricket World Cup.

The subsidiary, in keeping with international events of this nature, will see the majority of its revenues being realised during the year of the event in 2007. ICC CWC WI 2007 expenditures totalled $7.4 million in its first year of operation, which was in line with projections and the budget for the event. Major expenditure items included finance and event insurance costs of $3.7 million, legal fees of $1.1 million and professional fees of $1.2 million.

The accumulated deficit of the group moved from $12.0 million to $15.4 million while that of the parent company showed a reduction from $12.0 million to $8.4 million. The board was also updated on the current financial performance of the company and is forecasting a loss of $7.0 million for the year ended September 30, 2005 as had been indicated earlier this year. This is against the backdrop of a weak Home Series involving South Africa and Pakistan with less than budgeted ticket sales.

Television revenues achieved its projected levels but were lower than in 2003/04 because of the relative size of the primary TV markets for the Home Series (South Africa and Pakistan) as against England in 2003/04.