IT may only be when next year’s accounts are published that we can proclaim confidently from the hilltops that Bolton Wanderers are flourishing again, but the latest numbers are a good start.

Cast against the last two sets of financial figures – which had both carried an asterisk as they had been negatively affected by a global pandemic and a complex web of legacy payments associated with Football Ventures’ takeover in autumn 2019 – there was reason for optimism when the latest figures dropped at Companies House yesterday morning.

The latest accounts took into consideration Wanderers’ first year back in League One, the return of supporters to the University of Bolton Stadium, a successful push on season tickets, much-improved retail and hospitality profits and a hotel business which is more than paying its way.

On the pitch, Ian Evatt had bolstered the squad which won promotion with the likes of James Trafford, Kyle Dempsey, Dion Charles, Kieran Sadlier, Jon Dadi Bodvarsson, Xav Amaechi and Aaron Morley, and the total outlay added up to more than £1million over the year.

The football budget was increased to £8m – shy of big-spenders like Sunderland, Ipswich Town, Sheffield Wednesday, Wigan Athletic and potentially a few others – but certainly competitive enough to start building a team that is on track for the play-offs this term and has already enjoyed success at Wembley in the Papa Johns Trophy.

Running a football club is unlikely to be a profit-maker, at least outside the Premier League. And losses of £5.77m show that even Football Ventures’ relatively sensible spending racks up.

They may hope investment in players will lead to bigger returns on sales down the line, much like this season’s deal to move Dapo Afolayan on to St Pauli. Juggling those financial decisions while still maintaining ambition to push towards the Championship is now the name of the game.

Indeed, were Evatt’s side to succeed in their chase for the play-offs and return to the second tier, there will be a whole list of questions for the ownership to answer on how competitive Bolton could be in a merciless division.

Away from the pitch, Football Ventures have continued to rationalise and restructure. A massive £12.5million has been turned from loans into equity, which eases the pressure considerably. According to the accounts, around £2.5m of loans fall due in the next 12 months, and it can be reasonably assumed that they will be dealt with in the same sensible manner.

Gradually, the debts that were built into the deal to buy the club out of administration are being ticked off, one by one. A £2,500,000 secured loan from former vice-chairman Brett Warburton was satisfied in October via a land deal close to the training ground at Lostock. The money had initially been loaned back in 2015 to ease financial issues which arose when Eddie Davies was trying to sell.

A £5.5m debt to the former owner’s trust has also been settled. The remaining £2.75m was written off last year and though there may be future payments based on promotions to the Championship or Premier League, Bolton’s finances are – on the face of it – starting to simplify.

The only area as yet unexplained is the increased involvement of BMLL Limited, described in last year’s accounts as a “Swiss consortium” whose one registered director at Companies House is Football Ventures alumni, Nick Luckock.

BMLL increased its shares in Wanderers in November 2022 alongside another investor, billed as Mr I Riley, and again in January 2023, raising a total of £2.77m.

With a fair chunk of shares now behind them, it remains to be seen what say BMLL have in the future, especially if Wanderers were to step up into the Championship.

Some Bolton fans will be happy just to look ahead with hope, instead of trepidation. Whereas Wanderers’ auditors once pleaded ‘no comment’ to the club’s ability to trade as a going concern, Cowgill Holloway LLP were prepared to endorse Football Ventures with no caveats in the June 2022 accounts. Football Ventures have also signed a financial commitment to March 2024 at least.

Though football operations are still costly, even at League One level, the recent accounts show that the business as a whole is making good profit.

Money made by the hotel on accommodation, plus food and drink across the business, came to more than £5.3m, up from around £900,000 the previous Covid-hit year. With the introduction of the Fanzone, concerts and World Cup festivities over the winter, it is safe to assume those figures will be on the rise once again in a year’s time.

Profits from retail have skyrocketed more than 63 per cent on the previous year and commercial takings have also increase by nearly a third.

Corporate, which had been hit hard during the pandemic and for several months afterwards, shot up by a dizzying 2844 per cent to more than £800,000. More investment planned by Wanderers in the coming months to improve their matchday hospitality range should keep the figures heading in the right direction.

Even car parking, which raised more than £200,000 last year, is likely to be a more profitable exercise for Wanderers since the controversial introduction of Parking Eye last summer.

Plans to improve internet streaming and introduce an in-house Wanderers TV are also afoot, prompted by the success of the EFL’s iFollow service, which made the club nearly £400,000 despite the fact fans were allowed back in the building over the 2021/22 season.

Only in next year’s accounts will we see the true worth of the Papa Johns Trophy final run, which is estimated to have made around £500,000, the sale of Afolayan, and how much was invested in January on the likes of Victor Adeboyejo.

Until then, Wanderers fans can be comforted that the immediate future of their club is stable and longer-term liabilities are being managed sensibly, regardless of which division Ian Evatt’s side is playing in next season.