Virgin Active made earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation of £125m, on revenues of £653m, in 2013 – the last year for which it has reported.
Chelsea blame the huge loss on the amortisation of player transfer fees, which means how much a player's worth decreases over the length of his contract.
The post-summer slowdown in the economy heralded tougher trading conditions, but the business still delivered an improved operating profit (compared to the previous year), before exceptional items, restructuring costs and amortisation of intangible assets of £98.2m on turnover of £284.9m.
Total operating profit before exceptional items, restructuring costs and amortisation of intangible assets was £110.8m (2008 £119.8m) on turnover of £296.0m (2008 £309.9m).
Operating loss before exceptionals and amortisation of acquired intangibles was £6.6m (2008 £0.1m profit) on turnover of £46.6m (2008 £48.8m).
PET/CT scans generally take 20 40 min on equipment costing 2 3 times that of CT scanners, which can perform scans on a patient every 5 10 min. After amortisation of equipment and staffing expenditure, the cost of CT is, consequently, substantially less than for PET/CT.
"As a result, the amortisation of player contracts and the net impact of player trading on the club's bottom line has decreased by 27% (£30.3m) over the previous year, consistent with our belief that the peak of the club's investment in its playing squad has passed".
Amortisation of transfer spending is a necessary requirement under FFP regulations relating to British clubs.
Operating profits exclude player trading, net interest charges and the amortisation of player contracts.
Prof Chadwick's concerns are based on figures compiled by the university's Centre for the International Business of Sport which show that the in 2011, the 20 Premier League members spent a staggering 91 per cent of their aggregate revenue on salaries and amortisation, the spreading on transfer fees over the length of a contract.
