The highly respected Swiss Ramble account has crunched through the numbers for Celtic’s accounts for the year to 30 June 2021.
A loss of £12.6m was recorded as the pandemic bit deep into the club with all matchday revenue sources badly affected.
Commercial income did rise significantly with £22m coming in from retail which was mainly driven by the new deal with Adidas. Despite the double whammy of lockdown ad a massive downturn in playing success Celtic fans went to town on the new kit ranges.
Since the accounting date passed the Celtic playing squad has been overhauled at a profit thanks mainly to the transfers of Kris Ajer and Odsonne Edouard to the EPL.
Those two fees were less than what could have been expected pre pandemic but bringing in around £30m for players in the final year of their contract should see the club back in profit for the current year.
Next Wednesday Celtic host their AGM. Swiss Ramble has 192,000 Twitter followers.
Clearly, the pandemic has had a major impact on the financials at all clubs with the cumulative revenue loss for #CelticFC over the past two years estimated as £24.7m (2019/20 £9.4m and 2020/21 £15.2m), mainly due to playing games behind closed doors. pic.twitter.com/19oh6qppRO
— Swiss Ramble (@SwissRamble) November 8, 2021
#CelticFC £12.6m loss after tax is obviously not great, but to put this into perspective it was only around half the £24.2m deficit reported by their rivals Rangers. The much smaller losses (and profits) at other Scottish clubs are from 2019/20, less impacted by COVID. pic.twitter.com/8y8GxrpPP3
— Swiss Ramble (@SwissRamble) November 8, 2021
#CelticFC mitigated revenue losses by “tight cost control” with lower wages, down £4.5m (8%) from (restated) £56.2m to £51.7m; player amortisation, down £0.4m to £11.8m; player impairment, down £2.1m; and other expenses, down £1.7m (8%). Includes £0.6m for Neil Lennon departure.
— Swiss Ramble (@SwissRamble) November 8, 2021
#CelticFC revenue “attrition” was driven by match day, which dropped £15.0m (42%) from £35.8m to £20.8m, and broadcasting, down £2.4m (18%) from £13.7m to £11.3m, though the net effect was eased by commercial, which rose ££7.9m (38%) from £20.8m to £28.7m. pic.twitter.com/dS5OiGNk6u
— Swiss Ramble (@SwissRamble) November 8, 2021
#CelticFC swung from £0.1m pre-tax profit to £11.5m loss (£12.6m after tax), as revenue fell £9m (13%) from £70m to £61m and profit on player sales fell £15m from £24m to £9m, partly offset by £5m other income (business interruption coverage) and £9m (9%) reduction in expenses. pic.twitter.com/N8w878ZXBl
— Swiss Ramble (@SwissRamble) November 8, 2021