Pre-tax profits rise from £4.4m to £5.1m |   Prudent balance sheet management - net debt reduced by £9.8m |  £1.2m p.a. increase in prize money

 Ascot Racecourse has announced its financial results for the 12 months ending December 31, 2016. | Ascot Authority (Holdings) Limited (AAHL) reported a pre-tax profit of £5.1 million.

 - Turnover up 6.7% due to strong performance from both Royal Ascot and Ascot Racedays and increased media rights income;

 - Prize money increased to £12.4m (2015 £11.2m). Total prize money at Royal Ascot was £6.5m and every day was worth at least £1m. These figures exclude QIPCO British Champions Day, an industry joint venture day;

 - Investment in customer experience, including two new facilities; the Lawn Club and the Villiers Club;

 - Profits boosted by a successful Royal Ascot in 2016, with the meeting's ticket income up by 10%;

 - Strong cash generation resulted in earnings before interest, tax, depreciation & amortisation (EBITDA) of £19.0m;

 - The bank loan was restructured during the year. The repayment profile was amended to provide greater liquidity for the business;

 - Net debt at 31 December 2016 was £71.8m (2015: £81.6m);

 - Continued major capital expenditure with the completion of new unsaddling area, enhancements to owners and trainers' facilities and office renovations;

 - 2017 trading to date in line with management expectations - Royal Ascot, with a new enclosure in the middle of the course - The Village Enclosure - set for another strong renewal;

 - As announced in April, AscotBet, Ascot Racecourse's pool betting operation, will launch in 2018.

  www.spae.org

CELEBRATING GOOD DESIGN IN OUR AREA |The Society for the Protection of Ascot & Environs (SPAE) has launched an annual Award – called the Good Design Award - to promote, encourage, and celebrate excellence in building design in our area . The winners of the first SPAE Good Design Award have been announced.   

On Thursday 25^th May 2017 at the SPAE Annual General Meeting held at Ascot Racecourse the Chairman of the Judging Panel, Robert Adam of Adam Architecture, gave an overview of the nominations for the Award and announced the winners.

Sharing the top Award are:

Englemere - an apartment development designed by Greg Meier and Ascot Design, and built by Millgate Homes in Ascot;

Pictured Above:   Englemere designed by Greg Meier and built by Millgate Homes

Windsor Grey Place –a development of eight detached houses built by Shanly also in Ascot.  Jo McDonagh and Fiona Mitchell accepted the award on behalf of Shanly

Pictured Above:  Winning Design – Windsor Grey Place built by Shanly

Royal Ascot 2017 will be broadcast in 175 territories with a reach of 650 million households this week through Ascot's media rights arrangements with Pitch International and Racecourse Media Group (RMG).

Uniquely in Britain, every race will be carried live on ITV1, whilst Irish viewers will see the meeting on free-to-watch television channel TV3.

In the US, the agreement with NBC aligns Ascot with a globally-renowned broadcasting powerhouse, while also doubling the reach of Ascot in that market. Last year NBC was the only network in the US to achieve viewership growth in the US (up 8%) and in the 18-49 demographic (up 3%). Its main NBC channel reaches 97% of US households while its cable sports channel - NBC Sports Network (NBCSN) - is in 78 million homes.

There will be over four hours of coverage daily on NBCSN, whilst the Royal Procession and fashion highlights will feature in the main network's flagship "Today" morning programme.

Nick Luck will front the NBCSN programme from Ascot and also on course will be an array of presenting talent from the Middle East, reflecting the importance of Royal Ascot to that key market.

The MENA (Middle East and North Africa) region will be served by live coverage from Dubai Racing Channel, Abu Dhabi Sports, BeIN Sports and Al Kass.

www.spotlightsmtg.co.uk    Tickets  can be booked at www.ticketsource.co.uk/spotlightsmusicaltheatregroup  

John Beckitt, son of the internationally famous ventriloquist, Jack Beckitt, is starring as Colonel Pickering in the Lerner and Lowe musical, My Fair Lady, in Ascot in the summer. The musical is being performed by The Spotlights Musical Theatre Group (SMTG) at Papplewick School from July 13th - 15th.  John spent his childhood backstage in theatres at which his dad was performing and although he didn't follow him into show business - John was a pilot with BA - the theatre is in his blood and he finds singing and dancing with Spotlights great fun.

"My dad always wanted to be a ventriloquist", said John, "and after many years and much hard work he finally made it big time with appearances on "The Good Old Days", a BBC music hall programme and, for a season, at the London Palladium. His most successful wooden friend was Willie Drinkall, who liked one too many, and both of them wowed audiences at The American Hotel in Miami and at Sands in Las Vegas, one of the world's top entertainment venues".www.ticketsource.co.uk/spotlightsmusicaltheatregroup

Following this Jack performed all over the world and was particularly successful in Australia where he died in 2009.

  www.spae.org

This Newsletter includes the following:
• Good Design Award 2017
• Reports for Sunningdale, Sunninghill & Ascot, and Winkfield
• Agenda for the 46th Annual General Meeting
• Statement of Financial Activities for the year ended 31st March 2017
• Draft Minutes of the 45th Annual General Meeting
• Good Design Award Presentation

The Society for the Protection of Ascot & Environs (SPAE) 2017 AGM May 25th at Ascot Racecourse

The 46th AGM of the Society will be at  7.30pm on Thursday, 25th May 2017, in the Parade Ring Suite, Ascot Racecourse.  Refreshments will be provided from 6.45pm. 

Ascot Wealth Management (AWM), have announced their recent employee results for exams completed through the Chartered Insurance Institute (CII). AWM is known in the Industry for their young team of professional advisers and analysts. The forward-thinking company offers a placement scheme for university students, part of which involves an intensive study programme, enabling them to pass RO exams and work towards achieving a Diploma in Regulated Financial Planning. AWM’s current employees have been working incredibly hard over the last year to pass these exams. All of them have achieved great results with four obtaining their full Diploma. However, one employee stood out amongst the group, Matthew Fagan, a 21-year-old from Reading, whom we believe is the youngest person to have achieved the Diploma in Regulated Financial Planning from the CII.

Matthew is studying for a BA in Business and Marketing degree at the Henley Business School, University of Reading.  Matthew joined the AWM Placement Scheme in June 2016.  Under the AWM study programme for the CII exams, Matthew passed all six exams leading to the Diploma in less than 10 months.