Provisional financial statements are available separately.
I am pleased to report that the Society made a profit of £1600 this year which compares with £48 in 2010. Subscriptions were up by £800 reflecting a small increase in membership and recovery of old balances. Investment income increased to £5315 from £4071 last year reflecting the investment of £20,000 at the beginning of the year from our cash balances. Sales of back numbers were up at £550 and with further donations, mostly arising from the sales of books we generated a total income of £20,566.
Thanks to good control by our editors, publishing costs in the year were held down at £15,493, which compares with £17,920 in 2010. We saw further significant rises in postage costs. Our new arrangements for meetings in the Natural History Museum, where we are now given free use of a room, resulted in no cost this year against £865 in 2010. Council decided to double the grants awarded this year to £2,000, taking our total outgoings to £18,969.
In difficult market conditions we were pleased to find we had a small revaluation surplus of £1,502 on our investments. This, together with the surplus for the year results in an increase of the Society’s funds of £3,102 to £104,264.
The outlook for the future looks secure. The increases in some members’ subscriptions will recover some of the extra postage costs we have been bearing, in particular on deliveries outside of the United Kingdom. Initial indications are that members affected understand the reasons for the change and are renewing. We hope that this, with careful control of expenditure will enable us to get through the current difficult economic times without any further increases in subscriptions
I would conclude by thanking, on both Council and our members’ behalf, our Honorary Examiner for her valued assistance in ensuring the accounts correctly reflect the Societies activities and financial position.