Brighton need to improve player sales performance

Brighton and Hove Albion have one of the lowest revenues in the Premier League, but a generous benefactor owner. From his fastness in Zurich, the authoritative Swiss Ramble reviews their latest accounts.

The loss before tax tripled from £22m to £67m, a £45m decline, as revenue decreased by £15m (10%) from £148m to £133m, while profit on player sales of £5m became a loss of £1m, and expenses rose £24m (14%). Monks Farm development worth £0.6m (revenue £9.4m, costs £8.8m

The £5 15m revenue fall was mainly due to COVID, which severely impacted all revenue streams, especially broadcasting, down £24m (21%) from £114m to £90m and match day, down £5m (27%) from £19m to £14m. Commercial £13m (82%) increased from £16m to £29m (Monks Farm development).

The £67m loss is obviously not great, but it is only 4th worst to date in 2019/20 Premier League, beaten by Everton £140m, Saints £76m and last night’s sad victims £68m. Due to the pandemic, it is likely that other clubs will also post substantial losses when they publish their 19/20 accounts

Without COVID the Seagull’s loss would have been £25m lower, but still almost doubling from £22m to £42m. Revenue impact was £26m, mainly broadcasting £20m (rebates and deferrals to 2020/21 accounts) and match day £6m, while £1m savings from deferred player

They actually made a £0.6m loss on player sales, down from £5.2m profit last season. Premier League profits here are lower in 2019/20, but Brighton are the smallest by far. They have made very little money from player sales. In fact, they have reported just £25m profit from this activity in the last 10 years, only twice achieving more than £5m. The 2020/21 accounts will be boosted by the sales of Knockaert to Fulham and Mooy to Shanghai SIPG

In fact, Brighton’s £19m profit from player sales in 5 years up to 2019 was the lowest in the Premier League. In stark contrast, Chelsea and Liverpool made over £300m. Finance Director David Jones said, “Going forward, to reduce the deficit, player trading needs to be part of the business.”

The London-by-the-sea club have only posted a profit once in the last 10 years, in 2017/18 following promotion to the top flight. In that time, the club has accumulated £195m of losses, averaging £19m a year. Profitability has been declining since that first season in the Premier League.

The operating loss (i.e. excluding player sales and interest) widened from £25m to £63m. Very few Premier League clubs make operating profits, but Brighton’s loss is (currently) one of the highest this season.

£133m revenue is still over £100m more than the £29m reported in the Championship promotion season. Excluding £9.4m from Monks Farm residential and commercial development, revenue fell 17% (£25m) compared to 2018/19

They are considering an increase in capacity at the Amex Stadium from 30,750 to around 32,000, as the club has an 8,000 waiting list for season tickets, though the pandemic might have an impact here.

American Express shirt (and stadium naming rights) sponsor was the lowest in the Premier League at £1.5m, though a new £100m 12-year deal (£8.3m a year) started this season.

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The Political Economy of Football V2

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