Manchester City returns to profit after scoring 19% boost to revenues
Premier League champions, Manchester City, returned to profit last year, as turnover rose by 19% to £569.8m.
Its financial results for the 2020-21 financial year were again impacted by the pandemic which forced the club to play most of its games behind closed doors, with no fans in attendance.
This hit matchday revenues which represented just £700,000 of income, compared with £41.7m the previous year.
Broadcast revenues surged to £297.4m, against £190.3m after the club reached its first Champions League final, which it lost to Chelsea.
Profits recovered from a £126m loss the previous year, to a £2.4m profit for the 2020-21 fiscal year.
Manchester City is now the fourth most valuable football brand in European football, according to Brand Finance’s latest report , published in May 2021, which showed that the club rose one place.
All clubs suffered to some degree this year as a result of COVID-19, but City’s brand value fell only marginally, by less than one per cent, while the top three clubs – Real Madrid, Barcelona and Manchester United – experienced bigger declines of 10-14%.
According to Brand Finance, Real Madrid has a brand value of 1.28bn euros, Barcelona 1.27bn euros, Manchester United 1.13bn euros, and Manchester City 1.12bn euros.
On the field, City’s men’s team won the Premier League, the Carabao Cup and reached the Champions League final.
Ferran Soriano, CEO City Football Group, said: “COVID-19 restrictions meant that all home games apart from one – the final match in the Premier League season, for which a reduced capacity of 10,000 was permitted – were played behind closed doors. With minimal opportunity to generate ticketing and season card revenues, matchday income was 98% down compared to last year. Never in the club’s history has a season been (mostly) played without fans.
“This decrease was offset by increases in our other revenue streams. One significant factor was Manchester City reaching the UEFA Champions League final for the first time in the club’s history, the biggest financial impact being a boost to broadcast income.
“Revenues for games played in July and August 2020 relating to the final stages of the 2019-20 season – comprising almost one quarter of the Premier League fixtures in that season plus the latter stages of the FA Cup and UEFA Champions League – are included in this year’s financial statements. Together, these two factors contributed to a substantial 56% year-on-year increase in broadcast revenues to £297m.
“Commercial revenues are also up by 10% thanks to the addition of new partners such as Cadbury, AxiTrader and Noon.com, plus the successful renewals of long term partnerships with Nissan, Unilever and Intel.”
