News: Rotherham United's latest accounts published as losses increase

Playing in League One following relegation from The Championship meant that Rotherham United received £6.7m less in central funding, contributing to a loss before tax of £4.65m.

Published accounts for the year ending June 2025 show that the loss of £4.65m is larger than previous years. Having made a loss before tax of £1.1m in the year when the club beat the odds to stay in the second tier, in 23/24 the overall operating losses increased to £1.7m in the relegation year, despite a rise in income.

League clubs receive central distributions from the Football League and a solidarity payment from the Premier League. In the Championship, the Millers received £9.2m, but in League One, this dropped 59% to £2.5m.

Income from player trading was down 89% from £2.5m in 2024 to £270,000 in 2025. 2024 sales included Oliver Rathbone and Peter Kioso and potentially payments from the earlier exits of Viktor Johansson and Ben Wiles.

Despite a drop in divisions, and lower average attendances (9,328 in 2025 and 10,677 in 2024) and season ticket sales (6,668 in 2025 and 7,225 in 2024), the club reported an increase in "match income and season tickets", which went from £2.8m in 2024 to £3.8m in 2025.

The increase is despite Key Performance Indicators for the Football League showing reductions in Match Day Income (£909,000 from £1.1m), income from Season Tickets (£1,6m from £1,7m) and Total Match Receipts (£2.5m from £2.8m). Season ticket prices for 2025/26 underwent an increase, as did individual match tickets.

Money from sponsorships was reduced with commercial income down from £3.2m to £3m. Wages and salaries (which includes playing and non-playing staff) went from £11.4m to £7,6m.

The income and expenditure lead to total turnover of £10.5m – a figure that stood at £19.2m in 2024.

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The club said in an earlier statement that it had taken measures to reduce costs and stabilise operations, with a clear focus on sustainability and responsible financial management.

The accounts have again highlighted the importance of sponsors, primarily the fellow subsidiary company, ASD Lighting PLC, who have continued to provide £1m in sponsorship.

The accounts also confirmed that the club is being charged £1m in annual rent from RU Estates Ltd, the company set up by the Stewart family when the AESSEAL New York Stadium was built.

Rothbiz reported at the start of the year that the latest accounts of ASD Lighting PLC had "included within debtors was £9,467,811 (2024: £5,204,737) due from Rotherham United Football Club (RUFC) Limited. The outstanding balance is repayable on demand."

Last month. Tony Stewart OBE, ceased to be the largest share owner in the holding company that sits above ASD Lighting and Rotherham United with the founder of the lighting business, and saviour of the football club, transferring his shareholding to his son.

Richard Stewart, managing director of ASD and vice chairman at Rotherham United saw his shareholding in ASD Lighting Holdings Ltd increase from 5% to 100%.

In an update, the League One club said that Richard Stewart "therefore indirectly holds 97.06% of the shares in Rotherham United Football Club."

RUFC website

Images: RUFC

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News: Rotherham sorting office still standing nine years post-masterplan

There are no signs that a key regeneration site in Rotherham town centre will be redeveloped anytime soon, nine years after the council's own masterplan said it was a high priority that the authority should help Royal Mail to relocate.

Details of a land swap between Rotherham Council and Royal Mail show that the postal service will continue to use the site on Main Street and Westgate and are carrying out new infrastructure works.

Progress has been made on the Riverside Residential Quarter, with the council leading on housing schemes on land it owns, as well as carriyng out further land acquisitions and enabling works to open up areas for redevelopment.

However, the large plot currently home to the Royal Mail sorting office remains out of reach despite being ripe for redevelopment and earmarked for a mix of uses, predominately housing, a decade ago.

On the site of the former Westgate station, the sorting office and wider area has a long planning history with previous owners, Satnam Urban Regeneration putting forward plans for a food store to rival those being put forward for Tesco. A long running legal battle with the council came to an end in 2009.

Rotherham Council went on to buy significant landholdings from Satnam in 2023.

The town centre masterplan of 2017 stated that after the redevelopment of the former Sheffield Road baths site, "the Council shall work positively to facilitate the relocation of the Royal Mail Depot elsewhere in the Borough to deliver up the second phase of the waterside project.

"The relocation of the Royal Mail Depot is a high priority. This site, with the former baths site, will prove the market and enable future phased deliver of land along the riverside to be secured.

"The present [sorting office] building is underutilised and large parts of the building are not used. The hard standing parking area is though wellused. The Council will take a pro-active approach by assisting in the site search for replacement facilities for this Royal Mail depot function and are aware of Royal Mail’s requirement. This site will then be redeveloped to deliver the second phase of the Residential Riverside. The future use and value of the site should be explored through a development capacity study alongside any site search, building on the masterplan."

Any relocation would need to be on a commercial basis and the delivery programme in the masterplan had construction starting on new developments on the sorting office in 2020.

With little sign of a relocation, the council and Royal Mail has now agreed on a land swap for two parcels of land around the site. The authority is acquiring a strip of land between the sorting office and the river so that enabling works can be completed. In exchange, Royal Mail will acquire a piece of land to the south, behind the former MOT centre and the remains of the Alma Tavern.

A council report reads: "The agreed swap will enable continuation of works to the river wall and the creation of public access along the river and into the town centre. It will also allow the Royal Mail to accept delivery of a fleet of electric vehicles once infrastructure works are completed within their new yard layout.

"The exchange of land parcels allows the River Walk to be developed as planned and Royal Mail to continue to operate from the Main Street site whilst meeting the same operational requirements as prior to the exchange of land."

Having secured £6.59m from the Government's Pathfinder grant to deliver infrastructure improvements in preparation for future residential redevelopment within the town centre, a £4.4m scheme delivered by Esh Construction on behalf of Rotherham Council completed last year. It included the construction of a new access road and a riverside footpath linking Water Lane to the town centre, alongside extensive landscaping and infrastructure upgrades.

Images: Esh / Google Maps

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News: £50m growth deal to help South Yorkshire build the technologies and innovations of the future

A new £50m South Yorkshire Defence Growth Deal is expected to be operational by the end of Summer 2026.

Luke Pollard MP, Minister for Defence Readiness and Industry, was in Rotherham this week, seven months after the deal was launched.

The Defence Industrial Strategy set out how government spending on defence can benefit local economies, from highly skilled engineering positions to apprenticeships for young people starting their careers.

Initial analysis indicates there could be an additional demand of up to 50,000 defence jobs by 2034/35 with increases in defence spending. Defence Growth Deals will play an important role in capitalising on that skilled employment potential for communities across the UK.

South Yorkshire is one of five deals that will be backed by a total of £250m of defence spending over the next five years.

The Defence Minister discussed the deal with industry at the University of Sheffield on the Advanced Manufacturing Park (AMP) in Rotherham, and its aim to help defence companies and boost skills by expanding cutting-edge defence research in South Yorkshire.

The targeted funding will catalyse growth across the region by boosting innovative R&D capacity and reinforcing the supply chains that defence companies need to equip our Armed Forces.

South Yorkshire is identified as a key hub for the development and engineering of high integrity, precision materials for the defence sector, including at MOD-owned Sheffield Forgemasters.

The region is also home to the University of Sheffield’s world-leading Advanced Manufacturing Research Centre (AMRC) which has multimillion pound facilities on the AMP in Rotherham. A growing defence cluster is being bolstered by BAE Systems new artillery factory in Sheffield with Rotherham companies including MTL Advanced and Magtec already supplying the defence sector.

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Luke Pollard MP, Minister for Defence Readiness and Industry, said: This £50m investment will mean South Yorkshire’s superb defence companies can develop innovative new technology, helping strengthen our Armed Forces and keep Britain safe in this new era of threat.

With government, industry and academia – such as the Advanced Manufacturing Research Centre – working hand in hand we are making sure this support is really targeted where it will have the biggest impact.

Through this Defence Growth Deal our government is backing British, and backing South Yorkshire. We’re harnessing the proud industrial base in this area to make defence an engine for growth, delivering new jobs and skills for local people.

The discussion included establishing a South Yorkshire Defence Board, deepening collaboration between the government, South Yorkshire’s mayoral authority, industry and academia, working hand-in-hand on making the Growth Deal as effective as possible while attracting long-term public and private investment.

The University of Sheffield AMRC has recently worked with EY-Parthenon to outline clear actions to unlock growth and secure sovereign defence capability, as well as the central role the AMRC can play in helping the UK to overcome innovation, capacity and capability challenges.

South Yorkshire’s Mayor Oliver Coppard said: In an ever more dangerous world, South Yorkshire has a significant role to play in the defence and security of the United Kingdom and our allies.

The £50 million Defence Growth Deal we have been awarded by the government doesn’t simply recognise the expertise and assets we have here today, it will help us to build the technologies and innovations of the future.

That Deal will mean we can continue making things, creating secure, well‑paid jobs, giving people across South Yorkshire the opportunity to stay near and go far. All while helping to keep the UK and our allies safe, secure and protected.

Images: Luke Pollard / X

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News: Rotherham expansion continues as Cepac set to take on closed print premises

A state-of-the-art print facility in Rotherham has closed, according to reports in the trade media.

Near neighbours have already submitted plans to expand into the vacated unit.

Vanacomm, which produced millions of catalogues, brochures and media inserts every week from its Manvers base, has ceased trading according to an article in Printweek.

Vanacomm took on the 120,000 sq ft premises of Garnett Dickinson, which was sold out of administration in a pre-pack deal in 2017 to GD Web Offset Limited, a vehicle incorporated for the purposes of the acquisition.

A statement from Vanacomm to Printweek said: “After careful consideration of the current economic climate, the substantial costs of energy contracts and the continued downturn in the UK web offset market, the shareholders of Vanacomm Ltd have come to the conclusion that the company should cease trading with immediate effect.

“The company is not entering into any form of liquidation and with wages paid up to date to the end of last week, we will continue to collect out the book debts with the intention of paying out all creditors.”

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Plans are already in place that could see Cepac, one of the UK’s leading innovators of performance packaging, expand onto Brookfields Park.

Rothbiz reported in September last year on Cepac announcing a £53m investment that will expand its key operations at Manvers.

Founded in 1999, Cepac has established one of the largest and most technologically advanced corrugated packaging plants in the world in Rotherham. Part of the HSA group, it also has operations in Darlington, Doncaster and Rawcliffe.

The "Rotherham 2" project will see investment in infrastructure, equipment and new jobs.

The first phase focuses on "Rotherham 1" - the existing facility that manufactures packaging and where certain machinery is now coming towards the end of its useful life. Plans have recently been approved for an extension of 4,000 sq ft and a proposed mezzanine of 11,400 sq ft to the existing building which will facilitate a wider expansion of the facility.

New plans explain that Cepac are in the process of formally purchasing the Vanacomm building to the south.

The application, drawn up by agents at DPP Planning, show a proposed 7,600 sq ft link building connecting the existing Cepac manufacturing building and Vanacomm building.

The plans state: "Due to increasing demands in the cardboard manufactory industry, the applicants are looking to increase their capacities. The link will send manufactured materials along production line machinery to the Vanacomm building to allow for final packaging and distribution of cardboard products.

"Linking the Vanacomm building to Cepac's current warehouse will facilitate the expansion and modernisation of Cepac's existing production facility which will allow Cepac to safeguard existing local jobs and the company's market position as a leading cardboard manufacturer."

Future plans would involve a new sprinkler tank and pump house and a new substation and switch room.

Cepac website

Images: Google Maps

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News: AMRC launches new scale-up programme

The University of Sheffield Advanced Manufacturing Research Centre (AMRC) has launched AMRC Scale-up, a programme designed to help high-growth deep tech companies scale manufacturing in defence, aerospace and energy.

The AMRC has grown to become a world leader in manufacturing excellence, part of the national High Value Manufacturing Catapult network of research centres. With facilities in Rotherham and Sheffield it has more than 500 highly qualified researchers and engineers working on the manufacturing needs of the future, from composites to castings, additive manufacturing to machining.

AMRC Scale-up is built for Series A and later-stage companies with established market traction that are preparing for scaled production. Unlike early-stage accelerators, the programme focuses on companies moving toward industrial production rather than product validation.

Matt Farnsworth, commercial director at the AMRC, said: "The UK has never lacked innovation, but the challenge has always been anchoring that brilliance into long-term industrial growth. AMRC Scale-up provides the technical runway for the UK’s most promising deep tech companies to bridge the gap between prototype and global supply chain. This is about more than growth; it’s about securing sovereign capability in the sectors that will define the next century."

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Engaging with AMRC engineers, participating companies will validate production systems capable of industrial scale, strengthen supply chain and certification readiness and embed manufacturability into growth and investment strategy.

Rushabh Shah, commercialisation manager at the AMRC said: "Scaling a manufacturing process is a distinct engineering challenge that requires a different mindset than product development. By embedding our AMRC engineers directly into these high-growth companies, we aren't just giving advice – we are validating production systems and de-risking the leap to industrial volume and capital investment.”

The AMRC says that it will select ten companies to take part in the programme with applications for the first cohort open now.

Rothbiz reported last year on SYMCA's funding for FerretWorks - a Yorkshire slant on SkunkWorks - with the approach at the AMRC formed to incubate high risk/high reward ideas away from the typical business KPIs and constraints, creating a space where it’s OK to fail, as well as putting money into the groups so they can make space for thinking.

AMRC website

Images: AMRC

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