WARRINGTON Wolves posted a small profit for the 2019 season.

Trading as Warrington Sports Holdings Limited, the club’s accounts for the last calendar year – posted to Companies House last month – recorded a financial gain of £52,000.

This compares to a £224,000 profit in 2018, the first season since 2015 that the club found itself in the black.

In 2019, turnover grew by £200,000 to £7.4million – although administrative expenses increased by nearly £500,000 to £6.8million.

A total of £55,000 was spent in the transfer market, compared to £190,000 in 2018.

The season was a mixed one of the field for the Wire, being crowned Challenge Cup winners but bowing out of the Super League playoffs at the first hurdle.

The financial report stated: “Investment within the youth structure saw the emergency of a number of young, talented players.

“This was demonstrated by the debuts of two 17-year-old academy graduates.

“The club’s media and marketing positioning and approach generated brand exposure to local, national and international audiences.

“This fresh and new approach utilised traditional and new media platforms to enhance the club’s brand equity and to appeal to a younger audience – the marketing strategy supported the rise in home attendances by 12.5 per cent and gained wider media interest.

“The club was one of the most watched teams over the course of the 2019 season, with a cumulative TV audience of 6.5million viewers.

“The club implemented a sponsorship retention strategy that focussed on partnership relations and not a transactional approach, ensuring partners received a return on investment for their sponsorship.

“This strategy allowed the club to retain the majority of commercial partners as well as attract new businesses to invest in Warrington Wolves – this was demonstrated by the club attracting a new and globally recognised principal partner, Hoover.”

But the club’s finances are expected to take a big hit in its next set of accounts for 2020 as a result of the coronavirus pandemic, with all games since mid-March having been played behind closed doors.

The report added: “Like many businesses, Covid-19 created a challenging financial landscape for Warrington Wolves – the pandemic and the subsequent lockdown and restrictions on trading resulted in a number of the club’s commercial revenue streams being impacted.

“However, the club acted swiftly and diligently to mitigate some of the losses by way of voluntary salary reductions, utilisation of the coronavirus job retention scheme, a government loan, a capital holiday on loan repayments and support from directors.

“In addition, the club also received support from members and commercial partners as the vast majority waived their right for a refund.”