By David Owen
November 9 – Manchester City, the Abu Dhabi-owned club whose multi-talented squad under Pep Guardiola already look like waltzing off with this season’s Premier League title, have reported a minuscule pre-tax profit of just £104,000 for 2016-17.
It is the sort of money which some of its star players would probably expect to earn in a week, which seems appropriate, since surging wage costs are part of the explanation for the decline from a pre-tax profit of £19.6 million the previous year. This in spite of turnover which climbed over 20% to £473.4 million. The latest period stretches to 13 months, due to a decision to change the year-end from May 31 to June 30.
Staff costs over these 13 months jumped to £264.1 million, against £197.6 million in 2015-16. By contrast, directors’ remuneration was once again zero.
A note on related party transactions states that details of key management compensation are listed in the financial statements of City Football Group Limited, an entity holding investments in New York City and Melbourne City FCs and Japan’s Yokohama F Marinos, as well as Manchester City.
This entity’s 2015-16 accounts, filed at Companies House last March, record key management compensation of £4.4 million, up from £3.5 million the previous year.
Noting that 2017-18 would be the 10th season under the stewardship of Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Khaldoon Al Mubarak, chairman, underlined that City continued to operate with “zero financial debt”.
“For the third consecutive year, our business is profitable,” Al Mubarak added, with record revenues “pushing beyond £400m and towards the £500m mark.”
Matchday income actually fell from 2015-16 levels to just under £52 million, but commercial activities jumped more than £40m to £218m. Like other Premier League clubs, City benefited from the new TV deal, with broadcasting income, excluding that from UEFA, surging from £100.1 million to £155.6 million.
Having been Champions League semi-finalists in 2015-16, however, City reached only the Round of 16 last time. This was reflected in a downturn in UEFA broadcasting money from £61.2 million to under £48 million.
The latest figures excluded a whole slew of summer transfers, including the signings of Kyle Walker and Benjamin Mendy and the departures of Aleksandar Kolarov and Samir Nasri. The club said net spending on these deals was around £161 million.
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