Aston Villa financial review

Before the Aston Villa Annual General Meeting (AGM) takes place later today we thought now was as good a time as ever to look at the results from the last financial year, after all aren't the financial results what it's all about for a shareholder?

Turnover on the previous year was down 8%, totalling ?51,623,000.00 with an operating profit of ?4,458,000.00.00 (down from ?7,037,000.00 the previous year).

Other key financial data includes a pre tax profit loss of ?2,488,000.00 compared with a loss of ?10,652,000.00 in the previous financial year, a reduction of 76%.

Net worth reduced by ?1,841,000.00 during the year and now stands at ?40,255,000.00.

Fixed assets reduced during the year by ?539,000.00 to ?53,865,000.00 and are now 89% of total assets compared with 90% in the previous year.

What does all this mean? Basically that Aston Villa are financially sound and can afford to take a little more risk on-board.

It also means that they didn't have as good a year as was hoped for under Bruce Langham which could go some way to explaining why Doug Ellis lost confidence in his man.

A drop in sales of 8% is significant enough for any company let alone a company with such high costs and little potential for profits.

Overall, Aston Villa are ripe for takeover. The share price puts a stock market valuation on the company (as of close yesterday) of just under ?55,000,000.00 but many believe the true valuation to be closer to ?80,000,000.00.

We all know the potential Aston Villa represents so maybe, just maybe, Doug Ellis is well within his rights to hold out for it.