Williams Grand Prix Holdings has announced a loss of £5m for the year ended December 31 2012 – despite a substantial increase in turnover for its core business, the F1 team.
The company puts the loss down to the “impact of a technical accounting treatment of one of the Group’s key receipts during the year.”
Williams notes that revenue of £9.4m from Formula One was not included.
The detailed figures allocate only £600,000 of the loss to the team, and the rest to Williams Hybrid Power and the Qatar operation.
The key figures are turnover increased by 22% to £127m (2011: £104.5m), and a loss before taxation of £5.0m (2011: profit £7.4m). In relation to the core business of F1, turnover increased by 21.5% to £124.3m (2011: £102.3m) while there was a loss before taxation of £0.6m (2011: profit £9.7m).
“Williams has embarked on a long term strategy that combines visible success on the track with an ambitious diversification programme,” said CEO Alex Burns. “The Williams brand and the intellectual property built up over many years of performing at the cutting edge of technological developments gives the Group a unique position in the global marketplace.
“Strong turnover in the year of £127.0 million reflects our revenue from Formula One and our ability to earn commercial returns from diversification. During the year the Group made an overall loss before taxation of £5.0 million. Revenue of £9.4 million, received under the Bilateral Agreement with Formula One World Championship Limited, the sport’s commercial rights holder, has not been included in these results because of the technical interpretation of today’s accounting standards.
“Highlights for Williams Hybrid Power included its flywheel technology being used in the winning Audi Le Mans entry, an agreement with Go-Ahead Group to develop flywheel technology for buses and a similar agreement with Alstom to develop a system for trams. Another milestone was the Group’s fulfilment of its agreement with Jaguar Cars Limited to provide the motorsport expertise behind the development of the C-X75 hybrid supercar prototype.
“To accommodate the Group’s plans to exploit the commercial applications of its technologies, 2012 also saw the start of construction of a new Williams Advanced Engineering facility at the Oxfordshire site.
“The growth of these new investment businesses at a time of global financial instability, evidenced by a rapid increase in revenue under the Williams Advanced Engineering brand from £16m (2011) to £38m (2012), puts us on a sound footing to deliver to our long term strategy.”
Adam Cooper F1 
Looks like a fair amount of smoke and mirrors, does it not.