Celtic income up 60% on last Europa League season

Celtic announced their financial results to the year ending 30 June 2019 this evening.  We do not have a good comparison to the season in question, as, unlike the previous two, there was no Champions League income, but both income and expenditure have changed since Ronny Deila left three years ago.

The good news: at £83.4m, income is up 60% from 2016, a staggering figure.  I expect this will be around twice what any other club in the league earns, even those who also reach the Champions League group stage.

There’s lots of money coming in but all of it and more goes back out.  Operating expenses (costs before player trading and exceptional items) were £86.9m, so all things being equal, without Champions League football we need to recoup £3.5m from play trading to break even.  You would rather be in surplus, but this less than a fifth what we received for Moussa Dembele so is very manageable.

Player trading brought in an £8m surplus (Moussa) and in addition, there’s a Brendan Rodgers shaped “Other income” figure of £8.795m.  Profit after tax (yes, tax, it is a real thing for some clubs) is £8.738m.

There is a lot of work goes into these figures.  Merchandising, at £18m, is up slightly on the previous year but up 50% on the last Europa League season.  This specific revenue figure, and season ticket money, is the bedrock of the club, allowing it to plan as it does.  A great result for the commercial team.

Multimedia (TV etc.) income is where the Champions League money would appear.  This figure dropped £18m to £22.082m.  Making it to the Europa Group stage is still very valuable to Celtic.

More detail will be available when the Annual Report is published but by any measure, these are very solid numbers.