Interims will stun and frustrate

Celtic released their interim financial statement for the six months to 31 December 2023 this afternoon.  They will doubtlessly stun and frustrate you in equal measure.  Revenue for the first half of a season reached a new high of £85.2m (2022: £76.5m).

Pretax profit for the period was £30.302m, down slightly on the 2022 figure of £33.830m and remember, Celtic are one of the clubs who pay their taxes, so worth recording the after-tax figure is £22.68m.

Our amortisation figure for the six month period was almost dead level with the previous year at just north of £6m.  You’ll know what amortisation is, so CQN would never bore you explaining that one.  The sale of Jota was included in last year’s accounts, so the player sales figure from 1 July was £2.591m.  Cash in the bank at the end of the calendar year was an astonishing £67.327m, up £7m on a year earlier.

All that money and two points behind in the table is the elephant in the document.  Chairman Peter Lawwell noted his disappointment at the lack of significant transfer business done during the January window:

“The Board’s commitment is to strengthen and improve the playing squad in every transfer window and although resources were available, we were unable to further add to the squad due to the unavailability of identified targets.

“This was disappointing to us all, and never the intention. The January transfer window is notoriously difficult as clubs are very reluctant to let their best players go at such a crucial time of the season just as we are. Indeed, we resisted strong interest in our players from other clubs.”