The authoritative Swiss Ramble reviews the 2020/21 accounts of Brentford whose pre-tax loss slightly improved from £9.1m to £8.5m (£2.4m after tax), as profit from player sales rose £19m to £44m and revenue grew £1.4m (10%) from £13.9m to a club record £15.3m.
The £8.5m loss is actually one of the better results in the
Championship. Even before the full effects of the pandemic were felt in the
20/21season, many clubs lost more than £20m. In fact, the Bees would have
posted a £3.5m profit without the £12m promotion bonus.
Their ability to punch above their weight is amply
demonstrated by the fact that their £15m revenue was comfortably in the bottom
half of the Championship, only around a quarter of clubs benefiting from
parachute payments. Emphasising their outperformance, their £15m revenue in
2020/21 is the lowest for any Championship club that secured promotion in the
last 5 years. Six of those promoted clubs enjoyed revenue over £50m, while
three more were above £30m (i.e. twice as much as the Bees).
The Bees have only made an overall profit once in the last
10 years: £24m in 2019, boosted by £14m from the land sale. However, they have
managed to keep the magnitude of their losses relatively small, which is no
mean feat, given their low turnover.
The evenue increase was driven by broadcasting, up £3.4m
(47%) from £7.3m to £10.7m, partly due to deferred TV money from 2019/20, with
commercial also up £0.9m (26%) to £4.5m, which offset COVID driven reduction in
match day, down £2.9m (95%) to just £155k.
Financials boosted by £44m profit on player sales. This was the second highest in the
Championship to date, only behind Norwich £60m. It was almost three times as
much as club’s £15m revenue. Vhairman
Cliff Crown noted that “the club has been heavily reliant on successful player
trading”, as evidenced by an impressive £139m profit from player sales in the
last 6 seasons (including £96m in the last three years alone). According to Transfermarkt, Brentford FC have
sold players costing £22m for an amazing £174m in the last six years, thereby
adding £152m of value via good recruitment and development.
They have needed good player trading profits to offset large
operating losses, which have widened from £17m to £53m in the last two years.
In fairness, almost every Championship club posts substantial operating losses
with half of them being above £30m.
Commercial income rose £0.9m (26%) to £4.5m, as partners
stood by the club during the pandemic. New club record, but still on the low
side (bottom half of Championship). However, the new stadium will help, so this
should further rise to around £10m in the top flight.
The wage bill increased £15m (60%) from £26m to £41m, though
that included a £12m promotion bonus. Even if that once-off payment is
excluded, wages were up £4m (14%), which means that they have doubled in last 4
years. Despite the increase, the £41m
wage bill was still a fair way below clubs that benefited from parachute
payments, whose wages are generally around the £70m level.
The wages to turnover ratio worsened from 186% to 270%, the
highest to date in the Championship. Even if £12m promotion bonus were
excluded, this metric would have been 192%, though most Championship clubs are
well above 100%
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