Nottingham Forest’s arch-rivals Derby County have released their latest set of accounts, with the figures showing a significant profit for last season.
The Rams posted a profit of £14.6m for the 2017/18 campaign – largely as a result of selling their stadium to owner Mel Morris for £80m.
Pride Park had been on the club’s books at £41m, giving a £39m profit on the sale when a company owned by Morris bought it at market value and leased it back.
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Profits from player sales and add-on payments from previous transfers, as well as the £1.9m compensation from Stoke City for former manager Gary Rowett also boosted the figures.
It is the first time in 10 years Derby have recorded a profit, having made a £7.9m loss 12 months earlier.
Forest showed a loss of more than £5m when their accounts for the same period were released last month.
Rams chief executive Stephen Pearce told Derbyshire Live: “We’ve had the sale of the stadium to a separate company, which is owned by executive chairman Mel Morris.
“What we’ve got there is there has been a sale and lease back to the club to make sure the football club can continue to enjoy the use of the stadium through a long-term lease arrangement, which prioritises the club’s football, its retail and its hospitality activities.”
“Selling a stadium is part of the wider strategy for Mel's wider group of companies, in order that he can generate more from other activities outside of football - with technology, with entertainment, etc,” he added.
“He's been looking at this for probably the last 18 months. I think it's very clear from his perspective, he wants to look at other opportunities for the stadium, aside from the football club.”
The club’s wage bill rose by £5.9m from £34.6m to £40.5m, but Derby have stayed within the Financial Fair Play threshold.
“A profit of £14.6m for 2017-18 means that we are still within the Financial Fair Play, or profit and sustainability, as it’s called, for that year,” said Pearce.
"We need to make sure that in order to compete, we have to operate right to the wire for Financial Fair Play or profit and sustainability, and we have to manage our forecasts and trading appropriately to make sure that we do that going forwards."
