Northants in the black

Australia's tour match at Wantage Road helped Northamptonshire make a profit

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Northamptonshire have announced a small pre-tax profit for the last financial year.

Chief executive Mark Tagg, speaking at the county’s AGM, put the surplus down to the revenue generated from the tour match against Australia and the county’s run to Twenty20 Cup finals day.

“With additional revenues coming to the club from the ECB and with the rewards of hard work involved in maximising the impact of the Australian fixture together with the Twenty20 successes, we were able to withstand a downturn in revenues which have been felt across the sports entertainment world,” he said.

“We have used potential profits to reinvest in players such as Ian Harvey, who was brought in specifically to compensate for the loss of David Sales for the whole season and to cover for injuries and the loss of Niall O’Brien to Ireland during the summer.

“I am also pleased we have been able to continue improving facilities for spectators with significant maintenance works and short pay back capital projects such as the new stands, which have already proved a great success, adding to the ability of the supporters to improve the atmosphere and encourage the players to fantastic results, such as the home quarter-final victory over Hampshire Hawks.

“We are not taking anything for granted and recognise that we need to build on the cricketing success of last season by continuing to invest in the cricket budget.

“To this end we continue to look for new ways to bring additional revenues to the club with commercially driven events such as the AbbaGold evening and the Karren Brady luncheon.

“This is as well as seeking to maximise the traditional sources of cricketing revenue such as memberships and ticket sales, which will be boosted by the advent of the new state of the art floodlights.”