Arsenal’s pre-tax loss increased from £45m to £52m, despite (football) revenue rising £96m (26%) from £369m to a new club record £465m, as profit from player sales halved from £22m to £11m and operating expenses shot up £89m (21%) from £432m to £521m. Net interest payable also slightly increased from £5m to £6m.
The club was at pains to emphasise that the financial result
was adversely impacted by an £18m impairment to write-down the value of certain
player registrations, compared to just £2m the previous year. Excluding impairment, the pre-tax loss
improved from £43m to £34m, which is obviously better than the reported
figures, but is still a sizeable deficit.
Arsenal have now lost money five years in a row, adding up
to an overall loss of £311m in this period, underlining how much the lack of
Champions League football has hurt the club’s finances.
Revenue
All three of Arsenal’s main revenue streams saw good growth
with both commercial and match day reaching new club highs, though the largest
increase came in broadcasting, which rose £45m (31%) from £146m to £191m. Since 2019, i.e. before the pandemic
struck, Arsenal’s revenue has grown £70m, which compares favourably with the
other members of the Big Six - with the exception of Manchester City, who have
comfortably outpaced all their rivals.
That said, Arsenal’s £465m revenue is still by far the
smallest of this elite group, around quarter of a billion below Manchester
City’s £713m and nearly £200m less than Manchester United’s £648m. This really
highlights the great job that Mikel Arteta has been doing in the past couple of
years.
Annoyingly for Arsenal fans, Tottenham overtook them in
2019, at least in terms of revenue, earning £85m more than their rivals last
season per the Money League (£549m vs. £463m). This is largely due to their new
stadium, which has led to them generating £15m more in match day and £57m more
in commercial. The gap should narrow
this season, as Arsenal have returned to the Champions League, while Spurs did
not qualify for Europe at all.
Even after Arsenal’s recent growth, their £169m commercial
income is still a distant sixth highest in England, less than half of
Manchester City’s £341m, and also a long way behind Manchester United £303m and
Liverpool £272m. Most galling to Arsenal fans, they have even been overtaken by
Tottenham £227m.
Other leading clubs:
Arsenal less sustainable
Only eight Premier League clubs have to date published
accounts for 2022/23, but Arsenal’s £52m loss is one of the worst, only
surpassed by Newcastle United £73m and Wolves £67m, though Aston Villa lost
£117m per UEFA’s Club Finance report. In
contrast, Manchester City posted a huge £80m profit, which was £132m better
than the Gunners’ result, while Brentford also made £9m.
This is a big change from the club’s traditional financial
prowess, as it had long been considered the Premier League’s poster child of
sustainability. Indeed, up to 2018, they had enjoyed 16 consecutive profitable
seasons, during which time they made nearly £400m. Until the last five years,
the last time that Arsenal had posted a loss was way back in 2002. In fairness, most football clubs lose money
from their day-to-day business, so only Brentford have posted an operating
profit so far in the 2022/23 Premier League.
In fairness, Arsenal‘s figures suffered badly from COVID
during this period. The pandemic obviously affected all football clubs, but the
Gunners were hit particularly hard, as their gate receipts are so high, and
most games were played behind closed doors.
This season will be better on player sales, as it includes a
couple of good deals, namely Folarin Balogun to Monaco and Granit Xhaka to
Bayer Leverkusen. Both of these deals represent pure profit, as the American
striker is an Academy product, while the Swiss midfielder was fully amortised
in the accounts. In order to compete
(and help meet FFP challenges), Arsenal will have to find a way to make more
money from player trading, but they are well set to achieve this objective.
Arsenal have earned much less from Europe than their English
rivals in the last five years, when they have not been playing in the Champions
League. Their €112m was only around a fifth of City’s €551m, while even Spurs
have received more than twice as much as them with €260m.
This season will benefit from once again playing in the
Champions League. As it stands, I estimate that Arsenal have already earned
€82m, which is more than three times as much as last season’s €25m from the
Europa League - and is the club’s highest ever from Europe. If Arsenal manage to overcome Porto in the
last 16 second leg, they will receive an additional €10.6m prize money, while
the semi-final would be worth another €12.5m.
The club had not raised ticket prices since 2014, but
applied a 4% increase in 2022/23, followed up by another increase for 2023/24:
4% in the upper tier and 6% in the lower tier. This means that prices have gone
up for some by 10% in just 12 months.
Wages
Even after last season’s growth, Arsenal’s wages have only
increased by £12m (5%) in the last five years, which is by far the lowest of
the Big Six. In the same period, four clubs have seen increases of more than
£100m, led by Manchester City £163m and Chelsea £116m. Consequently, Arsenal’s £235m wages are the
sixth highest in England, far below the top four clubs, who are all well above
£300m. Manchester City lead the way with £423m, followed by Liverpool £374m,
Chelsea £360m and Manchester United £331m. The Gunners were even overtaken last
season by Tottenham £253m.
It might sound strange to say that a club with a wage bill
approaching a quarter of a billion pounds is punching above its weight, but
Arsenal have really over-performed in the last couple of seasons. For example,
they have finished ahead of Manchester United and Chelsea, despite their wages
being around £100m lower.
However, wages are likely to rise going forward with new
contracts awarded to the likes of Bukayo Saka, Gabriel Martinelli, William
Saliba, Martin Odegaard and Gabriel, while Declan Rice will be on a high salary
and there will be more Champions League bonuses.
Debt and ‘silent Stan’
Arsenal’s gross financial debt increased by £42m from £234m
to £276m, as the loan from owner Stan Kroenke (repayable on 2 years notice)
rose from £218m to £259m, while debentures remained at £17m. This means that gross debt has grown by £58m
in the last two years and is the club’s highest since way back in 2009.
Kroenke has been one of the more generous owners in the
Premier League in recent years, as his £226m funding up to 2022 was one of the
highest. That said, all of his money to
date has been provided in the form of loans, while other owners have injected
capital (which does not need to be repaid). It is likely that Kroenke’s loans
are not quite as “friendly” as those provided by some other owners.
Kroenke has been one of the more generous owners in the
Premier League in recent years, as his £226m funding up to 2022 was one of the
highest.
That said, all of his money to date has been provided in the
form of loans, while other owners have injected capital (which does not need to
be repaid). It is likely that Kroenke’s loans are not quite as “friendly” as
those provided by some other owners.
Kroenke has been one of the more generous owners in the
Premier League in recent years, as his £226m funding up to 2022 was one of the
highest.
That said, all of his money to date has been provided in the
form of loans, while other owners have injected capital (which does not need to
be repaid). It is likely that Kroenke’s loans are not quite as “friendly” as
those provided by some other owners.
It is clear that the owners have demonstrated an abundance
of ambition, spending big on players in order to get back into the Champions
League and compete for the Premier League title.
As a Londoner by birth, I wish Arsenal well against their
northern rivals. Indeed, my club (Charlton) would not exist if Arsenal had not
moved north of the river and many south-east Londoners have retained their
allegiance down the generations.
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