Cobra Replica Club UK Ltd – Annual Accounts Review

Once again it is that time of year where I, as Club Treasurer, review and present our annual financial performance. As is customary, I will present an the accounts verbally at the AGM. However, for those that don’t have the chance to be present an overview of the Clubs 2024 financial status is presented here. 

As usual, the accounts have been reviewed and formally prepared by our Accountants and as we are a Registered Limited Company they are uploaded to Companies house.

Getting straight to the numbers:

You will see that, overall, we have posted a PROFIT of £2235 for the year 2024 (cf £3944 LOSS in 2023). As is usual, while that looks a favourable at first glance, there are a couple of factors that, when included, give a better view of the overall year performance; I will attempt to explain those further in my notes below.

Membership Subscriptions
Income has decreased from £17593 in 2023 to £16875 in 2024. Membership did fall by ~25 last year and that accounts for the difference in membership income. We do tend to get slight variation year on year but remain steady at somewhere between 700 and 750 members overall.

Printing and Postage (Snaketorque Magazine)
As I have explained in previous years, we account invoices on the date that we pay them, not on the invoice date or the date the invoice cost was incurred. Historically we have done this as it is easier when maintaining the income and expenditure files and aligning bank balances. Because of this, costs incurred near year end risk carrying over to the following year accounts if there is any delay in receiving or paying invoices.

We normally print and distribute 4 issues of Snaketorque magazine annually. However, because of invoice timing we only paid for 3 issues in 2024 compared to 5 in 2023 – the costs for the December ‘24 issue are not accounted in the 2024 numbers and will carry over into the 2025 accounts. This results in the significant difference in ST print costs shown for 2024 vs 2023.

Calendar Print
Invoice receipt and payment timing also effect the Calendar costs that are included in the 2024 accounts. The 2024 numbers only include the cost of production of the A3 calendar whereas 2023 includes 2 sets of A3 and A4 print runs. 

 Merchandise Costs
Income and expenditure on Club merchandise has little bearing on the accounts. The income from Merchandise sales has remained fairly constant over the last few years (~ £563 this period). Also, our merchandise offerings are generally self funding as most are procured on a ‘production to order’ basis – we hold no stock of most items.

Events Costs
In 2024, we again significantly increased our funding of the Christmas prize draw compared to 2023. That increase accounts for most of the increased event costs between 2024 and 2023 (£3879 cf £780). Part of the 2023 prize costs are also ‘hidden’ in the higher merchandise cost for that year.

Other Costs
On the whole, the other cost areas associated with running of the Club have remained the largely similar for a number of years and are itemised in the balance sheets.

Summary
The profit shown in the 2024 accounts does not reflect a truly balanced view of our performance last year.

If the 2024 accounts had included the cost of 4 issues of SnakeTorque magazine and 1 set of A3 and A4 calendars then the overall position would have resulted in a loss of ~£2500. Obviously we have sufficient reserve funds to support that currently. In the future I will be endeavouring to make each year account for 4 SnakeTorque and 1 set of Calendar issues by timing payments appropriately in an attempt to give a more balanced and easily comparable yearly comparison.

Overall, we are in a reasonably stable financial position and are easily able to fund our operations for the coming year with little risk of monetary issues.

Russell Derbyshire

Club Treasurer.