KENT have disclosed that they lost £190,000 in staging two pop concerts at their St Lawrence Ground in Canterbury during the 2009 summer, shocking news for a county already under financial stress.

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Kent learnt the hard way that involving themselves in rock music was not an automatic cash tap. The medicine would have tasted even more bitter for the club staff with the realisation that receipts from cricket matches rose impressively by almost £150,000 after a marketing push.

The income and expenditure account showed a post-tax deficit of £802,452 for the year ended Oct 31, a bigger loss than the £691,722 in 2008. Simon Philip, the county treasurer, described the figures as "very disappointing", with the results dragged down by the concert losses and delays in the club’s recession-wrecked hotel redevelopment scheme. "The most difficult trading conditions for generations wreaked havoc on our finances," he said.

Philip made little comment about the losses from two concerts on two consecutive June days headed by Sugababes and then James Morrison, a venture that was considered controversial with a much lower chance of success than the lucrative rock concerts at Old Trafford in the metropolis of Manchester.

The choice of Sugababes was curious in that their appeal was more to young teenagers than to the broad spectrum of rock lovers likely to venture on to the outfield at night-time. This female trio, lightweight in music terms despite chart success, attracted a crowd of only about 5,000 when a break-even figure would have been something like 10,000, a level which even Morrison's appearance failed to achieve. A concert by Elton John at the ground in 2006, attended by 20,000, made a £49,000 profit for Kent, but here was a megastar almost guaranteed to attract an audience, weather permitting.

Take That performed for five nights at Old Trafford in 2009, attracting 250,000 fans at a substantial undisclosed profit. Three concerts by Robbie Williams raised about £150,000 for Lancashire in 2001. In past years Bruce Springsteen, Oasis, David Bowie, Morrissey, Foo Fighters, REM and Radiohead and the Arctic Monkeys have performed, and in 2010 the Test ground is due to host Green Day on June 16 and Muse on Sept 4. As tickets will cost more than £40, the events are big business. The little provincial town of Canterbury is poorly placed to emulate this.

Kent billed their events as "prestige concerts". Sugababes were supported by DJ Ironik and the 16-year-old singer/songwriter Alex Root, from Bromley, while Vagabond and folk-pop singer Lisa Mitchell appeared on Morrison's bill. During the build-up to the week Kent’s director of operations Jon Fordham said the club wanted to make their venture into a big success. ‘We have worked hard to create the perfect evening for both Friday and Saturday," he said. "We have attracted some fantastic acts and I genuinely feel that the people who come along will get value for money." Unfortunately for county finances, even with tickets priced at about £24, not enough people wanted to give the evenings a try-out.

The treasurer's report said the overall revenues grew by almost £500,000 or 11 per cent, although this figure is inflated by the inclusion of the concert receipts before adjustment for the high costs. Match receipts rose by nearly 28 per cent mainly due to the home Twenty20 Cup quarter-final, the England Lions game with Australia, much better weather than in 2008 and an energetic effort by the marketing department. The ECB central distribution increased by just over 20 per cent.

Philip said: "Receipts from the concerts conceal a significant drop in commercial income, which derived from the reduction that businesses made in non-essential spending, such as corporate hospitality and marketing, during the worst recession for decades. Our commercial income was down by over £235,000 or 28.3 per cent - a huge blow, mitigated by switching the focus of the marketing team to maximising attendances."

He continued: "The two concerts incurred losses of over £190,000, which was an acute disappointment, given that our budget was predicated on very significant returns. This led to budgeted costs being set at too high a level. We also increased the marketing expenditure, only for the recession to bite subsequently. Marketing expenses are inflated by the costs of staging and promoting the concerts.

"Additional costs relating to redundancies and staff settlement amounted to £150,000. In addition, a number of items have been identified, amounting to £140,000 and relating to earlier years, which we have to accept are now payable or irrecoverable. These include bad debts and certain VAT payments.

"On the asset side, we commissioned Strutt & Parker to revalue our freehold land, which previously stood in the accounts at only £6,621. The new valuation ensures that we have a balance sheet that more accurately represents our true financial position and will strengthen our ability to raise funds.

"Lessons clearly need to be learned from the sorry tale of the past few years. Firstly our budgetary and management accounting processes have been overhauled and we now have a far higher level of insight into the performance of the business and where we are spending our money. Further cost savings have been identified and considerable management focus, across all aspects of the business, is being given to ensuring that every pound spent secures the maximum possible value. We are also able now to identify, much more quickly, areas of the business where sub optimum performance is occurring and take corrective action.

"When constructing the budget for 2010, the committee and our executives faced a very difficult balancing act. Cricket management has painstakingly built a team to be proud of, which is highly competitive every time it takes the field. The easiest way to cut our losses would be to dismantle the team and replace our much valued, high performing players with cheaper, less talented alternatives. This is a route that nobody wished to entertain."

Philip concluded: "Given the horrible economic conditions of the past 12 months, never have we been so grateful to those sponsors who stuck with us, when budgets were being cut and priorities reordered. Particular thanks should go to our main sponsor, Shepherd Neame, but every sponsor at whatever level should be recognised. We are also very excited about our new partnership with Canterbury City Council, whose faith in the Club and the redevelopment is reflected in their proposed loan of £4 million. We will be working closely together over the coming years and we are much stronger for their support."

The AGM at the St Lawrence Ground on March 29 promises to be stormy. Kent's sad financial story will be running for a few seasons yet.