By David Owen
May 29 – Three words: Aaron Wan-Bissaka. The young defender’s big-money transfer to Manchester United on the penultimate day of Crystal Palace’s 2018-19 financial year was responsible almost entirely for carrying the Eagles back into the black after recording the biggest pre-tax loss of any of the 20 clubs comprising English football’s top tier in 2017-18.
This is pretty much as predicted by Insideworldfootball the best part of a year ago. http://www.insideworldfootball.com/2019/07/01/man-utds-deal-wan-bissaka-will-help-eagles-profits-soar/
Pre-tax profit for the year to end-June 2019 reached £5.4 million, against a loss of £35.5 million the previous year.
Otherwise, there was a noteworthy air of stability about the South London club’s results. Turnover for the corporate entity CPFC 2010 Limited edged up from £150.3 million to £155.4 million. The operating loss before profits on player sales reached £38.5 million against £36.9 million. Staff costs nudged ahead from £117.3 million to £119.3 million.
But the profit on disposal of players leapt from £2.4 million to £46.2 million. There was a sharp increase too – from £1.55 million to £2.6 million – in remuneration of the highest-paid director, presumably chairman Steve Parish. But the accounts noted that “funds in excess of” his basic salary “are to be reinvested into the Academy as part of the ongoing development plans”.
Amounts owed to group undertakings at the year-end more than doubled year-on-year from £21.5 million to £45.4 million. The strategic report noted that “the owners continue to support the investment in the squad and long-term plans of the club and during the year injected a further £25 million of long-term interest-free loans”. It added that at time of writing – 1 March 2020 – “the club has no external debt”.
Regarding the planned development of the Eagles’ home at Selhurst Park, the report spoke of “numerous agreements to be concluded and finalised, most notably with Sainsbury’s for the car park and access space needed to facilitate the development”. The club said it hoped to be in a position to move forward “in the near future”.
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