Perth Wildcats may have missed the playoffs for the first time in 36 years, but that didn't stop the league's most successful franchise from booking a profit of $750,000 for the financial year.
Perth Wildcats may have missed the playoffs for the first time in 36 years, but that didn't stop the league's most successful franchise from booking a profit of $750,000 for the financial year.
The late Jack Bendat sold the club to sharemarket-listed Sports Entertainment Group for $8.5 million last year, with most of the purchase price being attributed to the value of the club's licence and trademarks.
SEG, led by Melbourne-based journalist Craig Hutchison, also had to divest itself of its 25 per cent shareholding in the rival Melbourne United franchise as part of the deal, which realised $3.1 million.
The company's preliminary final report, released to the Australian Stock Exchange, reveals the Wildcats contributed revenues of $12.295 million to SEG in the financial year.
That would have been $12.5 million if SEG had owned the franchise for the entirety of FY22.
The Wildcats contributed net profit after tax of $662,000 to SEG, which would have been $750,000 if it had been owned by SEG since the start of the financial year.
It's the first time the Wildcats' financial performance has been revealed since businessman Bob Williams bought the club's licence from the state government because the WA Basketball Federation was on the verge of financial collapse.
Ironically, that was in 1986 - which was the last time the Wildcats missed the playoffs.
The fallout from the club's failure to feature in the post-season this year was swift, with club chief executive Troy Georgiu departing after 20 years with the Wildcats and head coach Scott Morrison following him out the door.
Commercial general manager Anthony Radich and financial controller Sanjer Chowdhury also left, with Radich later being appointed chief executive of Perth Glory.
Former NBL star John Rillie has since been appointed as head coach of the Wildcats.
