SWINDON TOWN COMMUNITY MUTUAL LTD

FINANCIAL STATEMENTS FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 JULY 2003

SOCIETY INFORMATION

• Andrew Ratcliffe (Chairman)
• Anna Tuersley (Vice Chairman)
• Leigh Collett (Treasurer)
• Justin Tomlinson
• Mark Ratcliffe
• Anthony Norris
• Andrew Hounsell
• Paul Wardell

• Peter Woods

REPORT OF THE BOARD OF TRUSTEES for the Year Ended 31 July 2003

The trustees present their report with the financial statements for the period ended 31 July 2003.

SOCIETY STATUS AND REGULATORY AUTHORITY The society is limited by guarantee and registered with the Financial Services Authority under the Friendly and Industrial and Provident Societies Act 1968.

PRINCIPAL ACTIVITY The principal activity in the period under review was to:

• Strengthen the bonds between the Club and the community which it serves and to represent the interests of the community in the running of the club.
• Benefit present and future members of the community served by the Club by promoting, encouraging and furthering the game of football as a recreational facility, sporting activity and focus for community involvement.
• Provide and maintain facilities for the enjoyment of professional football.
• Promote coaching schemes to develop the football skills of young people and to widen interest in football regardless of the sex or ethnic origin of those involved.
• To further the development of the game of football nationally and internationally and the upholding of its rules.
• To encourage and promote the principle of supporter representation on the board of the club and ultimately to be the vehicle for democratic elections to the board of the Club.

The interests of the trustees holding office on 31 July 2003 in the issued share capital were as follows:

STATEMENT OF TRUSTEES' RESPONSIBILITIES

The Friendly and Industrial and Provident Society law requires the trustees to prepare financial statements for each financial year which give a true and fair view of the state of affairs of the society and of the surplus or deficit of the society for that period. In preparing those financial statements, the trustees are required to :-

• select suitable accounting policies and then apply them consistently;
• make judgements and estimates that are reasonable and prudent;
• prepare the financial statements on the going concern basis unless it is inappropriate to presume that the society will continue in business.

The trustees are responsible for keeping proper accounting records which disclose with reasonable accuracy at any time the financial position of the society and to enable them to ensure that the financial statements comply with the Friendly and Industrial and Provident Societies Act 1968. They are also responsible for safeguarding the assets of the society and hence for taking reasonable steps for the prevention and detection of fraud and other irregularities.

AUDITORS

The auditors, Banks Chartered Accountants, will be proposed for re-appointment in accordance with Section 5(1) of the Friendly and Industrial and Provident Societies Act 1968.

CHAIRMAN'S REPORT AND REVIEW OF THE PERIOD

TrustSTFC's second year as a Supporters' Trust has been very much one of consolidation of the Trust's role as one of the primary independent voices of the supporters of Swindon Town Football Club. Thankfully, this period has also been one of greater stability for the club, after a period of some turmoil in both the boardroom and the courts the club is now successfully working its way through a CVA following a second period of administration and we welcome the fact that the club appears to be on a firmer footing.

However, one issue that the Trust has felt obliged to speak out on has been that of severe increases in matchday prices, to £21 this season, and the further increase to £23 for next season, which was recently announced. While we accept that budgets have to be balanced and that this season's increases have not resulted in reduced gates (largely due to success on the pitch, which is welcomed by all!), we are still concerned that the high cost of matchday prices remains a barrier to the growth of the fanbase and also may yet result in a steep decline in the current attendances should the team's performance tail off. The Trust continues to believe that high matchday prices are a mistake in the medium to long term and detrimental to the growth of the club within the community of Swindon loyalty is hard won, but easily lost.

One of the Trust's major campaigns in the past year has been the Red Army Fund, a scheme to enable supporters to help pay for improvements to the Swindon Town squad, knowing that their donations are "ring-fenced" for this purpose alone, rather than going into a general pot of money used to pay bills, etc. Reaction from fans has been encouraging, while the response from the business community, where we had hoped to attract major sponsorship, has been disappointing. The Fund was created late in the 2002/2003 season and its promotion did not start in earnest until the start of the current 2003/2004 season, hence no funds were received prior to 31 July 2003. Overall, however, it has been a solid first year for the fund, albeit without it having been asked to help with any player transfers, etc., but we believe the donations so far give the Fund a solid base to build on for next season.

One effect of the greater stability at the club has been the removal of the air of crisis around the club. While this is obviously welcome, an unwelcome side-effect has been a slight decline in membership of the Trust. The Trust board believe this is in part because many supporters believe that Supporters' Trusts are little more than emergency funds, or vehicles to enable supporters to step in and rescue clubs in crisis. Hence, once the club moved to a period of greater stability, many fans who had joined during the "crisis period' did not renew their membership and the uptake of new members has not been as sharp as during the "crisis period'. That said, the majority of members have renewed and we are pleased that this indicates that the Trust is providing an effective role for supporters of Swindon Town FC. Obviously, we believe that Supporters' Trusts in general, and TrustSTFC in particular, have a much broader role to play than simple crisis funds, both in terms of representing the fans of the club, and within the broader community. Over the coming year we will seek to emphasise this message and renew efforts to attract new members of the Trust and retain current members by ensuring we are meeting their needs.

Looking forward, this is an exciting time for the club, as it lies on the cusp of potential promotion and with plans for a new ground in the offing. TrustSTFC will, as ever, seek to ensure that the views of the club's fans are fully represented during the year to come, be that in the boardroom, the council chamber or the wider community.

Finally, none of the work the trust has done, or plans to do, would be possible without the tireless efforts of the volunteers, both on and off the Trust board, who help run the Trust, staff the office on matchdays, hand out leaflets, rattle the collection tins (and buckets!) and generally make it all happen. I would personally like to thank and congratulate all of these people, without whom the Trust simply could not operate.

REPORT OF THE INDEPENDENT AUDITORS TO THE SHAREHOLDERS OF SWINDON TOWN COMMUNITY MUTUAL LIMITED

We have audited the financial statements of Swindon Town Community Mutual Limited for the period ended 31 July 2003 on pages six to ten. These financial statements have been prepared in accordance with the provisions of the Friendly and Industrial and Provident Societies Act 1968, under the historical cost convention and the accounting policies set out therein.

Respective responsibilities of trustees and auditors As described on page three, the society's trustees are responsible for the preparation of financial statements in accordance with applicable law and United Kingdom Accounting Standards.

Our responsibility is to audit the financial statements in accordance with relevant legal and regulatory requirements and United Kingdom Auditing Standards.

We report to you our opinion as to whether the financial statements give a true and fair view and are properly prepared in accordance with the Friendly and Industrial and Provident Societies Act 1968. We also report to you if, in our opinion, the Report of the Trustees is not consistent with the financial statements, if the society has not kept proper accounting records and if we have not received all the information and explanations we require for our audit.

We read the Report of the Trustees and consider the implications for our report if we become aware of any apparent misstatements within it.

Basis of audit opinion

We conducted our audit in accordance with United Kingdom Auditing Standards issued by the Auditing Practices Board. An audit includes examination, on a test basis, of evidence relevant to the amounts and disclosures in the financial statements. It also includes an assessment of the significant estimates and judgements made by the trustees in the preparation of the financial statements, and of whether the accounting policies are appropriate to the society's circumstances, consistently applied and adequately disclosed.

We planned and performed our audit so as to obtain all the information and explanations which we considered necessary in order to provide us with sufficient evidence to give reasonable assurance that the financial statements are free from material misstatement, whether caused by fraud or other irregularity or error. In forming our opinion we also evaluated the overall adequacy of the presentation of information in the financial statements.

Opinion

In our opinion the financial statements give a true and fair view of the state of the society's affairs as at 31 July 2003 and of its income for the period then ended and have been properly prepared in accordance with the Friendly and Industrial and Provident Societies Act 1968.

INCOME AND EXPENDITURE ACCOUNT for the Year Ended 31 July 2003

BALANCE SHEET 31 July 2003

NOTES TO THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS for the Year Ended 31 July 2003

Accounting convention
The financial statements have been prepared under the historical cost convention

Tangible fixed assets
Depreciation is provided at the following annual rates in order to write off each asset over its estimated useful life or, if held under a finance lease, over the lease term, whichever is the shorter.

Stocks
Stock and work in progress are valued at the lower of cost and net realisable value, after making due allowance for obsolete and slow moving items. Cost includes all direct expenditure and an appropriate proportion of fixed and variable overheads.

Deferred taxation
The society is exempt from UK Corporation and Income taxes and therefore, no deferred taxation arises.

The society is exempt from UK Corporation and Income.

During the period the society reimbursed expenses incurred wholly and exclusively for the benefit of the society to the following trustee:

SWINDON TOWN COMMUNITY MUTUAL LTD TRADING PROFIT AND LOSS ACCOUNT for the Year Ended 31 July 2003

Swindon Town Community Mutual Limited, trading as TrustSTFC, an Industrial and Provident Society registered with the Registrar of Friendly Societies under the Industrial and Provident Societies Acts 1965-78. All references to the ‘Trust’ or TrustSTFC on this site are to the Swindon Town Community Mutual Limited that holds funds, under its rules, for the benefit of the community and not in trust for its members.