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Wolves: 'a club transformed'

The authoritative Swiss Ramble reports from Zurich on the 2019/20 accounts of Wolverhampton Wanderers.

Since being bought by Chinese investment group Fosun International in July 2016, Wolves is a club transformed, helped by a close relationship with super-agent Jorge Mendes. Under charismatic manager Nuno Espirito Santo, Wolves can realistically compete for European qualification. Fosun’s strategy of “strong investment into the squad” has led to £100m net losses in the past four years, but the gamble paid-off with promotion and European qualification

As a sign of how far Wolves have come, their £133m revenue means that they are 29th in the Deloitte Money League, which ranks clubs worldwide

The club swung from £20m profit before tax to £40m loss, as the pandemic led to revenue dropping £40m (23%) from £173m to £133m and profit on player sales fell £2m to £10m, while expenses rose £18m (11%), mainly due to investment in the squad. Loss after tax £39m

Significantly impacted by COVID, the main driver of revenue decrease was broadcasting income, which dropped £37m (28%) from £133m to £96m, while commercial fell £4m (13%) from £28m to £24m.   Without COVID,revenue would have been £58m higher at £190m

Despite the steep decline in 2019/20, the £133m revenue is more than £100m higher than their last season in the Championship, which illustrates the huge difference in the Premier League. Even though broadcasting was significantly hit, it still accounted for 72% of revenue.

Profit on player sales fell £2m from £12m to £10m, mainly Ivan Cavaleiro to Fulham and Kortney Hause to Villa. This is one of the lowest profits from this activity in the Premier League.  However, this season’s accounts will include £60m profit.

The £95m wage bill is still one of the smallest in the Premier League, only around a third of the highest wages reported in the Premier League to date for 2019/20.  As a result of the revenue fall, the wages to turnover ratio increased (worsened) from 53% to 71%, though this is much better than the 192% last reported in the Championship (including promotion bonus).   It would have been an impressive 50% without COVID revenue loss.


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