North Melbourne’s debt has dropped from $8m to $450,000

North Melbourne has recorded its 10th profit in 11 years and is close to wiping out its overall debt that was as high as $8 million more than a decade ago.

North Melbourne chief Carl Dilena.

North Melbourne has shred its overall debt back to less than $450,000 — down from a crippling $8 million in 2007 — after recording another yearly profit, its 10th from the past 11 years.

In another promising sign for the Kangaroos, the club was able to record a net profit of $1,535,580 — including redevelopment funding and fundraising, and after amortisation and depreciation — through to the end of last October.

NEW TIGER: LYNCH STILL HOPES TO BE FIT FOR ROUND 1

TIME OUT: STEVEN TO STEP AWAY FROM FOOTY

North Melbourne chief executive Carl Dilena said the club’s debt reduction program had been important, but so too had the commitment to increase its football department spend, given its on-field aspirations.

“We’ve been able to reduce bank debt by a further $400K taking our overall debt to just $450K,” Dilena said.

“Football expenditure increased by $784K from 2017, largely due to fielding a stand-alone VFL team. The investment in football is critical to sustained on-field success.

“We will continue this investment in the 2019 season and look forward to another strong season.”

North Melbourne chief Carl Dilena is happy with how the club’s books are looking.

The Kangaroos’ overall revenue is now just under $41m — a $1.28m increase on the previous year — with an operating surplus of $718,136.

Dilena said the club was “progressing well” with its “initial” $6m rebuild of our facilities to cater for its AFLW, VFLW and VFL teams.

“The growth in our club is genuinely exciting,” he said.

“The team was really competitive throughout the (2018) year with twelve wins, doubling the previous year’s efforts.

“We narrowly missed finals but most importantly we showed rapid improvement and proved that we have the talent to compete and beat the best teams in the competition,” Dilena said.

“With our acquisitions during the trade period and draft, we are certainly set for exciting times ahead.”

Originally published as North Melbourne’s debt has dropped from $8m to $450,000