BHA financial performance betters expectations according to latest accounts

The BHA outperformed its budget in 2022 according to its latest set of accounts set to be lodged with Companies House, with the governing body making an operating surplus of £300,000 during the year.

Costs for the group, which also includes Great British Racing and British Horseracing Database Limited, rose by close to ten per cent driven by inflation and higher staff levels, but while income from owners fell, the drop was less than expected.

There have also been some signs of further recovery this year according to group financial controller Paul Foster.

He said of the performance in 2022: "We will make profits and losses over the years, but over the medium term we always aim to break even.

"We try not to focus so much therefore on the individual year, but on that medium-term horizon."

Group turnover was up nearly eight per cent at £39.8 million, and also represented the first increase on the pre-Covid figure of £37.5m recorded in 2019.

The majority of the group's income is provided by fees paid by racecourses and owners, which the BHA increased by 2.5 per cent in 2022.

Income from racecourses rose to £23.6m, reflecting the increase in fees, but income from owners was still down by 2.7 per cent at £8.3m.

The BHA had budgeted for a reduction of around ten per cent from some ownership income in anticipation of the ongoing impact of the pandemic, but overall owner registrations outperformed budget. 

However, that was offset by reduced entry handling charges due to the lower level of entries through the year which were reflected in lower field sizes.

Costs for the group as a whole amounted to £38.1m, up nearly 9.5 per cent on 2021.

Staff costs were higher than in previous years with headcount increasing by 25 across 2022, including new roles to assist in the delivery of BHA and industry strategy, as well as replacing roles previously vacated during 2020 and 2021. Travel costs also increased with higher fuel costs for raceday teams.

According to the accounts, the BHA has budgeted for a pre-tax profit of £838,000 in 2023 but with a cash outflow of £1.7m, driven by one-off costs relating to it moving offices this year and continued investment in Racing Digital, the joint venture with Weatherbys set up to overhaul the industry's IT and administration.

The budget also included assumptions about a further fall in income from ownership.

However, Foster said that after taking into account the eight per cent increase in fees which happened this year, there were encouraging signs.

"Income has been quite positive again this year," he said "We would have budgeted for a contraction in owners' activity having seen what we saw in 2022, and I don't think we've seen that so far this year.

"If you strip out that fee element, entry activity is up two per cent and registrations are about even, or half a per cent up. Obviously there is a lot of work going on behind the scenes on the fixture list and race planning to make sure that those field sizes hold up.

"Income is looking positive and it has therefore allowed us to spend money on things like industry strategy and getting external support, especially on the fixture list side where having that data and those specialists is really important."

The accounts also showed that Julie Harrington received £327,000 in her second year as BHA chief executive, up from £321,000 the previous year.

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