Resource Restriction Agreement helps Williams increase earnings

2011 F1 season

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Pastor Maldonado, Williams, Istanbul, 2011

Williams reported a 25% increase in earnings in their 2010 annual results, released today.

The team said the Resource Restriction Agreement introduced in 2009 caused a “substantial” reduction in costs.

Head of finance Louise Evans said: “During 2009 we entered into a number of new rules and new agreements which affected the cost base of the sport.

“We limited the number of engines which, together with the move from Toyota to Cosworth, dropped our cost base around engines.

“We also entered into the Resource Restriction Agreement during 2009, which has limited the cost drivers of the sport.

“The main things it has limited are external expenditure on F1 chassis activity, our headcount, on-track testing, wind tunnel usage, CFD usage and so on.

“This can be seen as a substantial drop in our overall cost base. We expect this to go forward into 2011 as well.”

Williams reported a 25% increase in earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) to £12m.

However the savings made under the Resource Restriction Agreement will be reduced by the reintroduction of KERS in 2011.

The team also confirmed details of the advance on 2011 earnings it received last year.

Evans said: “We are holding £27.2m of cash at balance sheet date. This includes around £28.6m of revenue receive in respect of 2011 that was received during 2010. This is obviously reflected in deferred revenue under current liabilities.”

Williams also received an advance in 2009.

Frank Williams said: "Commercially, 2010 has given Williams a solid foundation from which to grow.

“Amidst one of the harshest sponsorship environments for a long time, we signed Petroleos de Venezuela S.A. (PDVSA) and upgraded and extended existing partners, Randstad and Oris.

“This year has seen us build on that with our joint venture with Jaguar Land Rover and we are looking forward to further developments with our new businesses, Williams Hybrid Power and Williams Technology Centre Qatar.”

2011 F1 season


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Keith Collantine
Lifelong motor sport fan Keith set up RaceFans in 2005 - when it was originally called F1 Fanatic. Having previously worked as a motoring...

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15 comments on “Resource Restriction Agreement helps Williams increase earnings”

  1. Small note: EBITDA isn’t quite the same thing as profit. But it’s good news anyway, the shares are mildly up again this morning.

    1. I’ve tweaked the headline, wasn’t happy with it either.

      1. Since the article is about earnings, not profit, how does the RRA help?

        Unless it makes Williams’ business model more sustainable, and thus helps increase sponsorship. But that case is not made in the article.

  2. Good news. I’d hate to see Williams disappear.

  3. Shame they can’t seem to put the money to better use.

    One thing they need to be careful of is not diversifying too much into manufacturer stuff like the new Jag and Porsche hybrids and loses its good name in racing.

    When the BBC are referencing it so much (and it is a bad start and part a of gradual slide) it won’t take too long for others to notice.

    Still with the changes in place lets hope they can move forward now.

  4. BavarianMaleWorker
    10th May 2011, 11:12

    Since when did F1 teams want to turn a profit? Oh, wait… Surely there isn’t a direct correlation between teams winning/losing with the amount of money spent/saved? F1 will always be money based. The clever and ingenuious always succeed, but how is a team like HRT ever going to implement cleverness when they’re struggling to find paid sponsors?

    1. Extremely low costs, with slightly higher earnings through sponsors.

      The team might forever struggle, but its all good as long as the guy at the top makes more money than he loses.

  5. Great news! Losing Williams would be like losing McLaren or Ferrari. I can’t put into words how horrible that would be.

    1. Should strengthen their place on the stock exchange… however they mention they have secured the full sponsorship for 2011, but I wonder if they really have..

    2. Perhaps it’s because I started watching F1 when Williams was alread a midfielder, but their past success is miles away from the current team.

  6. We limited the number of engines which, together with the move from Toyota to Cosworth, dropped our cost base around engines.

    Correct me if I’m wrong, but didn’t Williams get Toyota engines for free by having Nakajima in the car?

    Maybe Williams are getting really touchy about the idea of being a pay-driver team.

    1. I wonder about that too. Maybe the balance sheet actually counts a debit for engine costs, but balanced by a matching amount of Toyota sponsorship for Nakajima?

      1. That sounds sneaky enough to be correct!

        1. At the timpe they didn’t float so had no need to publish their results

  7. Good news.

    Is Maldonado packing his bags yet?

    ;)

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