Skip to main content

City's impressive financial feat

The Swiss Ramble reports on Manchester City’s 2020/21 accounts when they swung from £125m pre-tax loss to £5m profit, as revenue rose £92m to £570m, due to deferred TV income and CL, while profit from player sales up £29m to £69m.

It is a pretty impressive feat for City to post a profit in 2020/21, when all clubs had to contend with a full year of the pandemic. The other Premier League clubs that have published accounts to date have all made big losses.

They managed to make money, despite revenue being significantly impacted by COVID. The Swiss Ramble estimates the revenue loss as £58m in 2020/21 (mainly match day), which would make £89m lost over the last 2 years.

Main reason for revenue growth was £107m (56%) increase in broadcasting from £190m to £297m, including deferred revenue from 2019/20 and higher CL money, plus £25m (10%) growth in commercial to £272m, which offset COVID driven reduction in match day, down £41m (98%) to £1m.

Few clubs have made big money in a transfer market somewhat deflated by COVID, but the profit from player sales rose £29m from £40m to £69m.  Player sales have not been as high at City as many others (e.g. Chelsea £462m since 2016), but have become increasingly important. This season will feature sales of Torres to Barcelona, Harrison to Leeds, Nmecha to Wolfsburg and Ilic to Verona plus Jadon Sancho sell-on clause.

The Swiss Ramble estimates that City earned €120m for reaching the Champions League final, just below winners Chelsea €121m, but much more than previous season €95m.  The Champions League has been a nice little earner for the club with an impressive €422m received in the last five years, the highest of any English club.

The £272m commercial income is now the highest in England, having overtaken Manchester United £232m. In the past two years City have grown £45m, while United have dropped £43m, as their fortunes have contrasted on the pitch.

The average attendance of 54,219 (for those games played with fans), was the fifth highest in the Premier League, around 18,000 below their Manchester neighbours 72,726, and just above Liverpool 53,143.

The wage bill rose £3m (1%) to £355m, a new club record, due to a combination of new signings and contract extensions. Wages have increased by £157m (80%) in the last 5 years, the highest growth of the Big Six.   £355m wages are the highest in the Premier League, having overtaken Manchester United in 2020. In fact, this is the highest ever wage bill reported in England.    The wages to turnover ratio improved from 73% to 62%, one of the lowest (best) in the Premier League.

 

Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

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...
1 comment
Read more

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 ...
Post a Comment
Read more

Millwall punch above their weight

Millwall’s season was overshadowed by the tragic death of owner John Berylson following a car accident. The American had been an exemplary owner, beloved by the fans for his leadership, passion and generosity. Millwall’s finances had been pretty good during his tenure, which we shall explore by looking at the most recent accounts from the 2022/23 season, when the club narrowly missed out on a place in the play-offs after finishing 8th. Millwall’s pre-tax loss slightly reduced from £12.6m to £12.2m, as revenue rose £0.8m (4%) from £18.6m to a club record £19.4m and player sales improved from a £0.1m loss to £2.5m profit. However, other operating income dropped from by £1.1m from £1.3m to £0.2m, while operating expenses increased £1.7m (5%) from £31.6m to £33.3m. The main driver of the revenue increase was broadcasting, which rose £1.1m (12%) from £9.1m to £10.2m, though match day was also up £0.4m (7%) from £5.8m to £6.2m. In contrast, commercial fell £0.7m (19%) from £3.7m to £3....
Post a Comment
Read more