Be sustainable and legitimate.

Be relevant and responsive to our stakeholders.

Have competent and highly motivated staff.

We are pleased to report a small surplus of £12.8k for the financial year ending 31st July 2006 (2005: £43k).

The table below shows key highlights from the Union’s audited financial statements for the year, available from LUU Finance Office and online from www.luuonline.com/downloads/documents/LUUfinancialstatements06.pdf.The statements give a more detailed report and analysis.

We saw a shortfall on our expected budget surplus of £54k for the year as a result of two key factors:

1. The late opening of Mine owing to significant construction related issues.

2. The doubling of power costs from 2005 in-line with national trends.

Despite these difficulties and a very tough start to our trading year, we managed to exceed our commercial targets in the second half of 2005-06 and achieve significant cost savings - particularly on transport.

Combined, these enabled us to return a surplus whilst completing the Strategic Review process and commencing a number of initiatives arising from the review.

LUU had a net cash outflow of £304k for the year (2005: inflow of £196k), which reflects a busy year of capital developments – including Mine, the refurbishment of the Riley Smith Hall, the re-opening of Raven Theatre as a rehearsal space, and the commencement of the 2006-07 programme involving till system replacement and new retail outlets, totalling £758k (2005: £253k).

Our balance sheet (which measures our net worth) remains strong with cash at bank and net current assets of £1m, a ‘free’ reserve of £212k and net assets of £4.2m.

The Union remains in a healthy financial position to face the challenges ahead and to continue with the initiatives arising from the Strategic Review.

Our staff survey in 2006 found that 97% of staff believe that we aim to meet the needs of our members, which reflects greatly on the level of job satisfaction staff members gain from working at Leeds University Union. This positivity among staff will help us in our entry to the Students’ Union Evaluation Initiative. In November 2006 we started our submission to this new scheme which aims to rate and evaluate the level of service Students’ Unions around the UK offer their members. Leeds University Union is one of only seven Students’ Unions going for the very first round of assessment - a great example of how we are one of the leading Students’ Union in the country.

Our staff’s response to the 2006 – 2009 plan has been unquestionable, with departments and individuals really benefitting from the focus provided by clear targets. The last 12 months have seen improvements and achievements by staff and members alike. At only six months into a three year plan, now is a great time to be a member of Leeds University Union -things are really starting to move forward.