Gillingham’s latest financial report for the 2023/24 season has revealed a pre-tax loss of £4.3m but turnover is up.

The financial report for the year up to June 30, 2024 stated that the club increased their turnover, up from £6.3m to £8.22m. Chairman Brad Galinson invested by way of a £2.2m loan and a non-repayable £1.3m donation.

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Gillingham’s League 2 rivals Salford City lost over £5.3m while Doncaster Rovers posted losses of £3m for the same period - taking their total losses to over £38.5m. Port Vale lost £3.8m.

Stockport County were League 2 champions in 2023/24 and their stated financial figures reveal a loss of £7m that season.

Meanwhile, in the Premier League, Aston Villa had an £85m loss in 23/24.

Gillingham’s latest accounts are for 13 months rather than the normal 12 as the accounting period was extended from the end of May to the end of June. Subsequent years will now end on the same day and month.

The 2023/24 campaign saw the Gills finish 12th in the table - a season that started promisingly under Neil Harris before a poor run of form saw him replaced by Stephen Clemence, who found himself out of a job at the end of the campaign after falling short of a top-seven finish.

It was the first full season under the Galinsons and ended with a pre-tax loss of £4,347,545 - a two-fold increase from the £2.1m figure the year before.

Shareholders’ funds rose from just over £600,000 to £3.6m.

The increase in revenue to just over £8m came thanks largely to a big rise in commercial and catering sales - figures showing a 92% increase

Commercial revenue went up from £925,000 to £1.85m, while the club shop, that had been closed after the Covid pandemic, was reopened in a newly built space and sales rose sharply from £200k to £579k.

Gillingham signed some big-earners when the Galinsons first took charge as they successfully avoided relegation and wages and salaries rose by around £2m to £5.855m.

The financial period ended before the vote to remove former chairman and owner Paul Scally as a club director was passed, a move that took place in October last year.

Mr Scally billed the club £200,000 for consultancy services through his company Hatcham Management Limited, up from just over £83,333 the previous year.

The Gillingham FC school, for children with behavioural needs, closed last summer at the end of the academic year as the council moved to integrate children into mainstream education. The school, owned by Mr Scally, provided space for up to 50 pupils, aged 11-16, who joined after a disrupted education where they were either excluded or at risk of exclusion. The club’s books show they received £833,087 towards the school that year.

The report stated that a £600,000 loan remained payable to Three Directors Limited, a company which included Mr Scally as one of those directors.

Gillingham FC paid rent for Priestfield Stadium to GFC Holdings Ltd - the club’s holding company - of £108,333 - up from £41,667 the year before.

A report of the independent auditors say they were not appointed until after June 30, 2024 and didn’t observe the counting of physical inventories at the end of the period, stating that they were “unable to satisfy ourselves by alternative means concerning the stock quantities held at 30 June 2024 which are included in the balance sheet at £164,183. Consequently, we were unable to determine whether any adjustment to this amount was necessary.”

The club were also due money from player sales but “due to the uncertainty of receipt of these contingent assets it is not practicable to disclose the amount likely to be received.”

The club’s future developments statements says “the strategic plan is to stabilise the company, make the football club financially sustainable and eventually reach higher levels of the English Football League pyramid.”