Skip to main content

Crystal Palace make a profit

Crystal Palace's accounts for 2016/17 are finally out.The delay in the accounts being published may be linked to proposed third party investment that didn’t eventually materialise. The club received a large deposit that was then repaid.

Like the overwhelming majority of Premier League clubs, they have returned a profit. A loss of £6.8m in 2016 converted into profit of £12.8m in 2017.

Income was up 40% on back of new TV deal. Gate receipts down 9% despite higher attendances reflecting lower prices. 82% of income was from broadcasting, a not untypical figure for 'smaller' Premier League clubs.

Wages were up 39% to £111.8m. They had the ninth highest wage bill in the Premiership. The average weekly player wage was nearly £54,000.

The highest paid director earned £2,150,000, presumably with initials SP. The club spent £117,000 on services from VMM, a Steve Parish company, and paid rent of £234,000 to Smoke & Mirrors Group, another Steve Parish Co during 2016/17.

Palace had the 11th highest income of Premiership clubs in 2016/17. Five years ago their income was just over £14m compared with £142.7m today.

They were the fourth highest spenders on player signings in 2016/17, investing more than Leicester, Chelsea and Tottenham Hotspur on player recruitment. Player purchases were£104.3m, player sales £39m.

The balance sheet looks solid with £15.9m of cash in bank at 30 June 2017. Loans are relatively low.

A more detailed analysis is available here: Dancing in the Dark

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Threat of financial calamity removed from Baggies

West Bromwich Albion had effectively been in decline ever since the club was sold to a Chinese consortium in August 2016, paying a figure north of £200m to buy former owner Jeremy Peace’s stake. Controlling shareholder Guochuan Lai’s ownership was fairly disastrous for the club, but his unloved tenure finally came to an end after Bilkul Football WBA, a company ultimately owned by Florida-based entrepreneur Shilen Patel and his father Dr Kiran Patel, acquired an 87.8% shareholding in West Bromwich Albion Group Limited, the parent company of West Bromwich Albion Football Club. This change in ownership was urgently required, due to the numerous financial problems facing West Brom, including growing high-interest debt and serious cash flow concerns, following years of no investment from the former owner. Indeed, West Brom’s auditors had already rung the alarm bell in the 2021/22 accounts when they cast doubt on the club’s ability to continue as a going concern without making player s...

Spurs to sell minority stake

Tottenham Hotspur is in talks to sell a minority stake in a deal that could value it at up to £3.75 billion and pave the way for Joe Lewis and his family to sever ties with the Premier League football club. Tottenham chairman Daniel Levy is seeking an investment that values the club at between £3.5 billion and £3.75 billion, including debt. While the terms of any deal have not been finalised, City sources expect Spurs to sell about 10 per cent. The club is being advised by bankers from Rothschild on the sale. Tottenham wants to raise fresh capital for new player signings and to help fund the development of an academy for its women’s team, as well as a 30-storey hotel next to its north London stadium. The financier Amanda Staveley, who brokered the deal for Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund to take over Newcastle United, is understood to be among the parties to have expressed an interest in Tottenham. Staveley’s fund, PCP Capital Partners, has raised about £500 million to ...

Fulham requires big funding from owner

After lengthy delays, Fulham’s shiny, new Riverside Stand has finally opened, creating “a unique Thameside destination with first class facilities for supporters and partners on match days, as well as for the wider community year-round”. This ambitious project has increased Craven Cottage’s capacity by around 4,000 to 29,600, while it has also taken advantage of the club’s fantastic location and wealthy catchment area by including two Michelin star restaurants, a rooftop swimming pool, corporate hospitality and event space, all benefiting from views of the Thames. Chief executive Alistair Mackintosh observed, “Fulham is the sort of club that can have a business class or first class and have fans that turn left on a plane.” Indeed, there is also an exclusive members club – with a football season ticket as an optional extra. It’s fair to say that “the times they are a-changing”, as this is a long way from the traditional pie and a pint. However, in a world where clubs face the tw...