Controversial Christmas carnival loss hits Newbury's profits by £670,000

Newbury's controversial Great Christmas Carnival put a £670,000 dent in the racecourse's profits, according to preliminary results for 2022 released on Wednesday.

The racecourse had warned in January the carnival, a joint venture with events company Underbelly, had not been a success and would result in a "material loss".

The carnival ran between November 25 and January 2 and was unpopular with racegoers as it obscured part of the back straight, including races in the prestigious Coral Gold Cup fixture.

In its results announcement Newbury said of the carnival: "This was expected to create an important new revenue stream and broaden the business base beyond racing, but due to a number of factors, the event was not as well attended as Underbelly expected and has resulted in a material loss of 670,000 to the company."

There was, however, good news in last year's results as Newbury emerged from the Covid-19 pandemic with turnover increasing 17 per cent to £17.42 million.

Total media-related revenues of £5.14m were also up 17 per cent compared with 2021 and accounted for 30 per cent of Newbury's total trading revenue.

Excluding the impact of the Great Christmas Carnival loss, Newbury's profit before tax was £800,000 compared with £180,000 in 2021. 

Chairman Dominic Burke said: "This financial performance was broadly in line with management’s expectations, but as advised in January 2023, the Great Christmas Carnival generated a material loss for the company. Despite this, our reported 2022 profit before tax was similar to 2021, demonstrating a strong underlying business performance."

The Great Christmas Carnival at Newbury racecourse produced a big financial loss Credit: Edward Whitaker

Newbury increased its executive contribution to prize-money by 64 per cent to £2.47m, helping the total for 2022 reach £5.17m. 

Prize-money for 2023 is set to be a record £6.06m, an increase of 17 per cent, with an executive contribution of £3.1m, up 26 per cent.

In March last year Newbury received a final payment of £10.7m from David Wilson Homes for the housing development at the site, which the racecourse said had enabled it to pay off loans and become debt free. It also paid out a special interim dividend of £3m in June.

Burke said: "Additionally, our commitment to improving facilities at the racecourse has been demonstrated with a major investment in the Berkshire Stand’s facilities. We also committed to invest in a similar project in the Hampshire Stand Hennessy Restaurant completed for relaunch in April 2023. 

"These developments have been made in the face of a very challenging environment for racing, both at Newbury and throughout the rest of the UK, but we believe in the importance of providing high-class facilities for all our racegoers."

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