The authoritative Swiss Ramble reviews the 2019/20 accounts of Barnsley FC.
Barnsley are owned by a group of international investors,
led by Chien Lee of NewCity Capital and Paul Conway of Pacific Media Group, who
follow the “Moneyball” approach of fellow investor, Billy Beane. They bought
80% from former custodian, Patrick Cryne, in December 2017.
The club clearly run a tight ship, as they usually report
small losses every year (the highest in the past decade being just £3.4m). The
£12.8m profit in 2016/17 is the outlier, which is the main reason that the club
has made an overall £5m profit over this period.
The operating loss (i.e. excluding player sales and
interest) improved from £7m to £6m, which is actually one of the best
performances in 2019/20 Championship to date. Almost every club in this
division posts substantial operating losses, i.e. half of them are above £30m.
Following promotion to the Championship, the Tykes reduced
their loss from £3.4m to just £0.3m, as revenue increased £6.4m (83%) from
£7.8m to £14.2m and profit on player sales rose £2.0m to £5.8m, partly offset
by expenses growing £5.6m (37%) to £20.5m.
The £14.2m revenue was slightly higher than the last time
they were in the Championship two years ago (and is still one of the lowest in
the division). Promotion from League One was worth £6.4m. Broadcasting is the
most important revenue stream at 60%, followed by match day 24% and commercial
16%.
The revenue increase
was mainly driven by broadcasting income rising £5.9m from £2.6m to £8.2m, due
to higher central TV distributions in the Championship, while match day
increased £0.3m (9%) to £3.4m and commercial grew £0.2m (11%) to £2.3m
The £0.3m deficit was actually one of the best financial
results in the Championship. Many clubs have reported much larger losses in
2019/20, including Stoke City £88m.
Profit on player
sales rose £2.0m to £5.8m, mainly Ethan Pinnock to Brentford, Kieffer Moore to
Wigan Athletic and Liam Lindsay to Stoke City. That’s a solid improvement, but
still a fair bit lower than WBA £29m, Bristol City £26m, Brentford £25m and
Hull City £23m.
Like many other clubs, Barnsley have become increasingly reliant on player
sales, averaging £6.6m profit in the last four years with the highlight being
£13.5m in 2017, including a large sell-on fee for John Stones moving from
Everton to Manchester City.
The wage bill increased £3.0m (37%) from £8.1m to £11.1m,
which is £0.5m (5%) higher than the last time they were in the Championship two
years ago. In that period headcount is unchanged, though footballing activities
are down 30, offset by an increase in match day staff. Despite the increase, the £11m wage bill is
lowest in the Championship so the club punches well above its weight.
The wages to turnover ratio improved from 105% to 78%,
similar to the 76% the last time they were in the Championship. The Board
believes this is “a sustainable level and well below the divisional average.”
In fact, the vast majority of clubs have ratios well over 100%.
The club have ramped up transfer spend since the new owners
arrived with a £12.8m outlay in the last 3 years, compared to only £5.4m in the
preceding 7-year period. Nevertheless, they have reported net sales of £2m
since 2017, as the club strives to break-even.
They spent £6.3m on player purchases, including Thomas,
Schmidt, Wilks and Andersen. This was huge by the club’s standards, but they
were still massively outspent by the likes of Leeds £46m, West Brom £34m,
Brentford £31m and Bristol City £26m.
The good news is that they have been debt-free since £6.3m
of loans from former owner Cryne was converted into share capital in 2017/18.
This is in stark contrast to many others in the Championship, e.g. Stoke City
£187m, Birmingham City £116m and Boro £116m.
Comments
Post a Comment