EXETER Chiefs’ chairman and chief executive Tony Rowe says the club is on the lookout for a new investor after Exeter Rugby Group posted a staggering £10.3m loss last season.

The financial blow came as the Chiefs suffered their worst-ever Gallagher Premiership finish, ending the last campaign in ninth place.

A £6.2m loan write-off linked to the Sandy Park hotel, which Rowe bought to help cover Covid-19 debts, was a major contributor. Excluding the write-off, pre-tax losses still rose to just over £3m, up more than £2.5m from the previous year.

Turnover fell by around £1.5m, while wages increased by £1.4m. Rugby income dropped by more than £1.5m as poor results hit attendances, although Sandy Park’s conferencing and events income remained steady at £2.5m.

However, the 77-year-old, who has overseen the running of the members-owned club since 1998, helping lead them out of the old National League One to that of English and European champions, remains confident in the team’s prospects moving forward.

He said: “I’ve enjoyed my 30 years running the club and doing what I’ve done, and I made no bones about it, I used the association with Exeter Chiefs to promote my businesses and that’s how I could afford to put the money into the club.

“But we’re at a stage now where we’ve got to move on, the club’s got to move on, and we’re looking for an investor. If I was 20, 30 years younger and offered the opportunity I’d jump at it.

“It will need a bit of money over the next two or three years until we get to franchise, which is likely to be probably be in the next four years, but it’s going to still need financially supporting.

“I’m currently talking to people and we’ve got a company in London that’s dealing with it for us. We’re just having a look round with a number of interested people and then we can hopefully in first or second quarter make some decisions on where we’re going to go.”

On the field, the Chiefs are certainly back in the groove and find themselves back at the right end of the Premiership, currently third in the table with just one defeat in their opening nine fixtures.

And it’s that transformation which has given Rowe further confidence when he looks to the future.

“Within the next two to three years you will find us back at the top, knocking on the door for Twickenham and wherever the European final will be,” he added.

The veteran businessman hopes a new top-flight franchise model will make Exeter more attractive to investors. “We’re in a good place. If someone comes along with the right backing, there’s huge upside here,” he said.