Clare Balding, the BBC's lead presenter for the Rio Olympics and Wimbledon, has seen her company, Clearly Clare, earn more than £500,000 in the last financial year, according to documents filed at Companies House. The sports broadcaster's firm made £516,712 in the year to the end of October 2015, with Balding receiving payments for TV presenting and royalties as an author.
The accounts, co-owned by her wife Alice Arnold, show shareholders' funds rose from £1.24 million to £1.76 million year on year. The company also added a fixed asset worth £1.33 million, which a City analyst suggested could be a house, holiday home, or commercial building. Cash at the bank fell from £1 million to £485,000.
Balding's earnings come amid a debate over BBC star salaries. The government's white paper on the BBC's future has settled on a threshold of £450,000 for mandatory salary disclosure, after originally considering £150,000. A committee of MPs has called for a lower threshold of £143,000, roughly the combined ministerial and parliamentary salary of the prime minister.
BBC presenter Andrew Neil has said he is happy to have his salary made public, admitting he earns more than the prime minister, but only if the number of programmes he fronts each year is also disclosed.
