Privates on parade

A lot of the time my job consists of writing about the financial performance of well-known Leicestershire companies. But when it comes to highlighting the profits or losses of businesses it is mostly those firms listed on the Stock Market I focus on.

Stock Market-quoted firms, of course, publicly disclose their financial figures every six months and give an indication of how well they are trading every three months. Privately-owned businesses - i.e those not on the market - on the other hand by their very nature prefer to stay private, and so can be reluctant to give away such information.

The internet has made it easier in recent years to delve into the financial affairs of private firms via the Companies' House website. Like most regional business journalists, I have email alerts set up to tell me when a company in my readership area has filed anything interesting with Companies' House, such as annual accounts.

But sometimes my job is made even easier by private businesses who take it on themselves to highlight a rise in sales or profits - although it is usually only the former because disclosing both figures can give a lot away about the running of a company.

Two recent examples of this are Braunstone-based Aurum Holdings, parent company of jewellery chain Goldsmiths, and Leicester shoe store chain Shoe Zone Group. Both firms sent press releases detailing sales rises in recent months, and so highlighting the strength of their businesses in the midst of the current economic uncertainty. To be fair to both, they also gave an idea of how profitable they were, although they failed to give exact figures.

The frustrating thing about private businesses is that they have 10 months from the end of their financial year to file accounts with Companies' House. This means it can be almost a year before I'm able to write a story about the 12-month financial performance of a high-profile company.

I had to wait until the end of March 2008 to find out via Companies' House that Leicester City had made a loss of £5.43m in the year to May 30, 2007. But after months of pestering new club chief executive Lee Hoos summoned me to his office this time last year to reveal the club had made a record £14.2m loss in the year to May 30, 2008. Even then he refused to tell me what the wage bill was, which resulted in another story when the accounts were eventually filed at Companies' House. Not surprisingly, the club was always keen to share the news in September or October if they had made a healthy profit the previous season.

I called Mr Hoos earlier today to see when I could find out last season's figures - which are likely to show a fall in losses. He said it may be some time yet. Whether I have to wait until the end of March this year to tell City's fans how their club was performing financially 10 months' ago remains to be seen.