Charlton racks up £1.6m loss

SOARING Sky TV revenue and a 29% rise in attendances were not enough to prevent Charlton Athletic racking up another £1.6m of half-season losses. Turnover at the London football club in the six months to 31 December leapt a quarter to £15m, a rise which, unlike almost every other club in the Premiership, outstripped the increase in operating costs, including players' wages, up 8%.

That enabled the club to report a £250,000 profit at the operating level. But the £8m cost of acquiring striker Jason Euell from Wimbledon and England Under-21 defender Luke Young from Tottenham sent the club into the red, matching the £1.6m loss in the first half of the 2000-2001 season. The shares were steady at 23 1/2p, just off an all-time low.

While debt has risen to £9.7m, chairman Richard Murray said: 'We believe it prudent to restrict our debt to the financing of the company's capital works programme, the majority of which is revenue-generating. We will continue to build Charlton in a financially responsible manner.'