LTA in good shape to face pandemic downturn

With Wimbledon goes for 2020, the Lawn Tennis Association announced this week an operating profit of £8.7m, with revenue of £77m for 2019 – a big turnaround after three years of losses.

Two years ago the LTA reported a loss of £6.3m but the turnaround is largely due to funds from the Wimbledon event.

Despite the costs of building a roof over the No.1 court, Wimbledon’s finances are still healthy and the funding of the LTA has then the governing body report total equity of £175.8m with cash reserves of £14.9m.

However, the LTA did use the government’s furlough scheme on around 50% of its staff in April.

A statement from the government body said: “Whilst the LTA delivered a profit for 2019, the current outlook for 2020 and beyond will be very different due to the financial impact of the current pandemic. Our responsibility is to protect the long-term growth and future of the sport in Britain and our reserves in isolation, can only support the short-term needs of the sport at this time.

“The government furlough scheme is an essential measure to assist organisations, including the LTA, manage such cash-flow constraints and to safeguard jobs in the future”.