Liverpool FC reports £9m annual loss amid falls in media and matchday revenues and a rise in the wage bill to £373m – but commercial revenues are up by £25m. Tony McDonough report
Liverpool Football Club is reporting a pre-tax loss of £9m after returning to profit in the previous year.
On Thursday LFC published its annual financial results for the 12 months to May 31, 2023. They show overall revenues of £594m, identical to the previous year. But the club returned to a loss after reporting the first profit for three years last year.
Media revenues, which refers to money earned from broadcasters such as Sky and TNT, fell by £19m to £242m while matchday revenue was also down by £7m to £80m.
Administrative costs rose by £17m to £562m. A big part of that expenditure is Liverpool’s wage bill which was up £7m to £373m. As well as players’ salaries Liverpool employs more than 1,000 people.
One piece of good news was the healthy £25m rise in commercial revenues to £272m. This commercial success was achieved due to a “strong growth” in partnerships and a successful pre-season tour, playing games in Thailand and Singapore.
LFC’s retail operations also had a record year for revenue with seven new stores opening across Asia and more than 350,000 downloads of the new LFC Store app, which is the first of its kind in the football industry.
It was also a record year for footfall across all of the club’s global LFC stores, peaking at 2.5m shoppers, which includes more than 10,000 every matchday at Anfield.
Since this reporting period, the commercial business continues to grow, with the popular Nike kit launch this season and the signing of four unparalleled blue-chip partners in Peloton, UPS, Orion Innovation and Google Pixel.
This is now the fourth consecutive season that LFC has been confirmed as having the strongest brand in the Premier League with AAA+ brand strength rating.
LFC says its drop in media revenue is mainly due to last season’s exit from the Champions League in the last-16 stage, compared to reaching the final in the previous season.
Liverpool, which is owned by US-based Fenway Sports Group, continues to be the most-watched team in world football across the past five seasons, with an average per season broadcast audience of more than 724m.
Matchday revenues are expected to eventually break through the £100m a season barrier following the completion of the new £80m Anfield Road stand. It was fully opened for the first time in the last few weeks and takes the total stadium capacity up to 61,000.
Andy Hughes, LFC’s managing director, said: “Operating this great club in a financially sustainable manner and in accordance with football’s governing principles has been our priority since FSG acquired LFC in 2010.
“Despite the significant growing costs of football, the success of our commercial operations demonstrates the strength of our underlying financial position so we can continue to operate sustainably while competing at the highest levels of football.
We’re really excited to see the completion of the new Anfield Road Stand. Having a record league attendance this year demonstrates just how far we’ve come since starting the significant capital investment to redevelop Anfield 10 years ago.
“Matchday revenue is a hugely important part of our overall financial sustainability model. Having the ability to grow our controllable income streams is a crucial part of our long-term plans.”
At the end of the current season LFC faces the biggest upheaval in almost a decade when current first team manager Jürgen Klopp leaves his post. The search for a new head coach has already started with former Reds midfielder Xabi Alonso the bookies’ favourite.