Skip to main content

Napoli is a well-run club

The authoritative Swiss Ramble examines Napoli's finances: https://swissramble.substack.com/p/napoli-finances-202122

Napoli reduced their pre-tax loss from €78m to €66m, despite revenue falling €14m (8%) from €179m to €165m and profit from player sales dropping €44m from €48m to just €4m, as operating expenses decreased by a hefty €71m (23%).  Loss after tax also narrowed from €59m to €52m.

Napoli’s €66m loss was one of the highest in the league, though it was less than half of Juventus €237m (restated after their accounting shenanigans), Roma €219m and Inter €137m. They were pretty much in line with Milan €60m.

tThe big five Italian clubs have lost a staggering €2.1bln between them in the last three seasons (€613m in 2019/20, €813m in 2020/21 and €717m in 2021/22).   In fairness to Napoli, their €130m loss over this period was by some distance the least bad, comfortably “beaten” by Roma €609m, Juventus €554m, Inter €488m and Milan €358m.

Napoli have now reported losses three years in a row, since the onset of the COVID pandemic, amounting to €163m before tax credits. This is in stark contrast to the preceding seven years, when they produced €178m of profits.  The club will expect to at least break-even this season, thanks to the return to the Champions League and some lucrative player sales in the summer.

Napoli have earned €193m from Europe in the last five years, which is not too shabby. They’re within spitting distance of Roma €201m and Inter €225m, though Juventus €419m is more than twice as much.   The difference in revenue from the Europa League and the far more lucrative Champions League is evident when looking at Napoli’s recent earnings, which were far higher in the four years between 2017 and 2020, when they qualified for Europe’s premier tournament.

Napoli have not had to rely on owner funding, unlike many other leading Italian clubs. In the last four years Juventus have received around €700m capital from their owners, while Milan and Roma have benefited from €545m and €360m respectively. Although Inter have not had any capital injections in this period, they have needed to take out substantial debt.

Even though Napoli’s balance sheet has suffered in the last three years, primarily due to the impact of the pandemic, this is fundamentally a well-run club. Their figures will look much better in 2022/23, thanks to the return to the Champions League and a couple of well-judged player sales last summer.

Unfortunately, the price they will probably have to pay for this success is the departure of some of their top talent to better funded clubs.

 


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

Gold standard ground boosts Tottenham's income

The gold standard in European football grounds is the Tottenham Hotspur stadium in north London, a £1bn construction project completed in 2019. Its impact on the club’s finances has become increasingly clear as the effects of the pandemic have faded. Previously, the average fan would spend less than £2 inside the ground on a typical match day, but now that figure is about £16, thanks to new facilities including the longest bar in Europe and an on-site microbrewery. Capacity has gone up from 36,000 at the club’s previous home of White Hart Lane to 62,000.  The new stadium — built on land adjacent to White Hart Lane — has opened the door to a broad range of other events that have helped to push commercial income up from €117mn in 2018 to €215mn in 2022. Last year, Tottenham hosted US singer Beyoncé for five nights on her global Renaissance tour, two NFL matches, as well as rugby games and heavyweight boxing bouts.  Money brought in from football has gone up too. Match day income is
Post a 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 depl
Post a Comment
Read more