Milan’s 2024/25 accounts were the third set of accounts reported under the ownership of Gerry Cardinale’s RedBird Capital Partners, who purchased the club from Elliott Management in August 2022 in a €1.2bln deal, with Elliot reportedly providing a €560m loan to help RedBird complete the acquisition.
Chief executive Giorgio Furlani told the Harvard Business
School, “Our goal became to stop losses, to live within our means. As important
as sporting success is, we realised we shouldn’t go into a success-at-all-costs
mode: the extra costs incurred in pursuing success can kill you financially.”
In the previous ten years, Milan had lost around €900m, with
Giorgio Furlani admitting, “Milan was not sustainable the way it is today, the
club was on the verge of bankruptcy.”
Milan posted a pre-tax profit for the third year in a row,
though this reduced slightly from €12m to €10, reports the authoritative Swiss
Ramble. This was especially impressive, given the indifferent sporting results. Revenue rose €36m (9%) from (restated) €402m
to €438m, which was a new club record, while profit on player sales increased
by €10m (24%) from €44m to €55m.
Big revenue growth
With the exception of Juventus, the leading Italian clubs
have grown their revenue since 2018/18, but Milan have outpaced all of them
with their €209m increase. There will be a significant reduction this season,
due to the lack of European football, which is likely to cost them around €80m
(including TV money and gate receipts).
This was offset by significant growth in operating expenses,
which increased by €47m (11%) from €419m to €466m, while net interest payable
surged from €1m to €6m.
Even after the steep growth, Milan’s €438m revenue is only
the third highest in Italy, though they have just about caught up with Juventus
€440m. They are a long way behind Inter, whose €551m is a big new record for
Italy.
Although Milan did well to once again post positive numbers,
their €10m pre-tax profit is only the fifth highest of the Serie A 2024/25
results to date, behind Atalanta €59m, Inter €50m, Bologna €20m and Torino
€17m.
Milan’s bottom line was boosted by profit from player sales
rising from €44m to €55m, though this was mainly thanks to sales made just
before the end-June accounting close. This was made possible by the additional
transfer window that resulted from the timing of the FIFA Club World Cup.
Milan’s 2024/25 profit would have been higher without €11m
of exceptional costs relating to the suspension of the Sand Donato stadium
project following the decision to proceed with the San Siro site.
Based on the Swiss Ramble’s model, Milan earned €62m TV
money from Europe last season after reaching the knockout round of the
Champions League, where they were beaten by Feyenoord. Milan’s financial
recovery owes a lot to their return to the Champions League, as they have
earned nearly quarter of a billion Euros in the last four seasons, averaging
€62m a year, compared to just €8m in the previous six years.
Milan’s average attendance slightly dropped from 72,008 to
71,544, but this was the highest in Italy, ahead of Inter’s 70,129.
There has been significant progress on the new stadium,
which was described as “a core principle of the club’s strategic development
plan”, after the sale of the San Siro site and the surrounding area to Milan
and Inter for around €200m. The two
clubs will demolish the vast majority of the stadium in its current form in
order to make way for a new, state-of-the-art venue which will be capable of
hosting matches at EURO 2032.
They have offloaded many high earners to reduce the payroll,
even when they could not obtain a transfer fee. Milan’s €189m wage bill is only
the fourth highest in Italy, a fair way below Inter €253m and Juventus €245m,
while Roma’s €202m (from the previous season) was also more than the Rossoneri.
After three years when they had significantly reduced their
gross transfer spend, Milan have splashed out more than €100m in each of the
last three seasons, including €126m in 2024/25.
Even after last season’s increase, Milan’s €136m gross debt
is significantly lower than Roma €476m, Inter €398m and Juventus €339m. Scaroni
has noted in the past that “the debt must always be kept under control”.
Owner funding
For the first time in a while, Milan’s owners did not have
to provide any financial support. In the
previous three years, RedBird put in €55m capital, including €40m in 2022/23
and €15m in 2023/24, mainly to cover the expenses of the San Donato project.
However, this was significantly lower than the €545m that
the former owners Elliott had to inject in the previous four years, albeit they
only provided €5m in 2021/22.
So Milan have been very reliant on increases in capital from
their various owners with €1.1 bln provided since 2010 to cover the club’s
substantial losses, but the club is now able to “wash its own face” (excluding
stadium development).
Milan’s financial results under the leadership of RedBird
Capital continued on the same positive path in 2024/25, as the club generated a
profit for the third year in a row, setting a new revenue record in the
process. However, this season will be
more challenging after the failure to qualify for Europe, which will have a
substantial impact on their revenue, though this could be offset by player
sales.
Last season the Rossoneri only finished eighth in the
league. This was their worst result for
a decade. The need to also prosper on
the pitch is well understood. RedBird
will no doubt appreciate that Champions League qualification is extremely
important for the bottom line.
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