Ascot boss happy despite revealing £12.8m loss

Outgoing chief executive Guy Henderson expects Ascot to return to profit in 2022 as the racecourse on Thursday revealed the impact the Covid-19 pandemic had on its finances last year.

Ascot made a pre-tax loss of £12.8 million in 2021, compared to a loss of £200,000 in 2020, but a difficult year had already been predicted due to Covid restrictions and the lack of pandemic insurance available to mitigate lost income.

Without insurance cover, furlough and business rates relief, Ascot would have suffered a pre-tax loss of more than £31m in 2020.

Turnover rose by 113 per cent to £46.9m as crowds were gradually able to return to the racecourse, but this was more than 51 per cent lower than the 2019 level.

However, Ascot's debt position remained stable, with gross debt at the end of the year standing at £56.4m, compared to £59.4m in 2020. A standby loan facility of £20m, which is available until 2023 and arranged through the government's coronavirus large business interruption loan scheme (CLBILS), remains undrawn.

Henderson told the Racing Post: "It was rewarding for all of us to get through the pandemic with reduced debt and without needing to activate our standby facilities. That was a rewarding way to put this whole thing behind us in our rear view mirror, which frankly gave us the confidence to invest significantly this year."

Of this year's financial performance, Henderson said he believed the course would return to profit, adding: "It's too early to say what that profit will be due to the increase in costs of delivery during the first six months of the year which are outside of our control, but I have little doubt that we will be moving into a surplus this year."

Ascot was able to welcome full crowds to this month's royal meeting for the first time since 2019, although the course took the decision to reduce capacity.

Pre-pandemic, the meeting has accounted for around 70 per cent of Ascot's annual business.

Ascot chief executive Guy HendersonCredit: Edward Whitaker

Hailing Royal Ascot as a "very positive" week, Henderson said the decision to reduce attendance to around 275,000 over the five days from around 300,000 had worked well.

He added: "That definitely improved traffic, it definitely lowered density and we actually had less bad behaviour as a result. There is a definite correlation between density and bad behaviour."

Henderson ends his seven-year tenure at Ascot at the end of the month and will be succeeded by Vivien Currie.

He said the highlights had been working with the "top-class team" at the racecourse, making progress on its strategy, developing Ascot as a global brand and making the venue as "welcoming and relevant to everyone" as possible.

Henderson added: "I can't pretend that on March 23, 2020 when 75 per cent of our trading revenues stopped overnight it wasn't a tad stressful. It was stressful for everybody. But everyone has pulled together and we have emerged safely through the pandemic. That has got to be a highlight."

The experience of racing without crowds due to Covid-19 was also an important lesson, Henderson said.

He added: "When racing went behind closed doors in 2020 – although it was a huge achievement to physically do it and the quality of the racing was extremely good in the circumstances – Ascot was a soulless place without our lovely racegoers. I think that was an important realisation for everybody in this industry. Events need people and people need events."

Henderson said he would be "decompressing" following his departure and added: "I step down at Ascot hugely optimistic about our future and very optimistic about the team.

"For the wider industry there are lots of difficult issues. The industry has got to work together. Personally I think it is really important for the industry to support the BHA – we at Ascot think it does a much better job than it is generally given credit for, it operates in a very difficult structure – so my message is genuinely pull together for the greater good."

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