Aston Villa confirms financial fair play compliance despite losses almost doubling

Aston Villa says it has complied with the Football League and Premier League Financial Fair Play rules despite reporting a £68.9m loss in 2019, almost doubling from the £36.1 m loss it made in the previous season.

The Premier League side attributed its most recent losses to ‘exceptional promotion-related costs’ of £45.8m and a one-off £30m payment to former owner Randy Lerner which was due upon the club’s return to the top flight.

The payment to Lerner was agreed as part of Tony Xia’s purchase of Villa in 2016 but after his company Recon Group were unable to make the payment the club was liable.

Therefore, Villa’s parent company NSWE SCS, owned by Wes Edens and Nassef Sawiris, introduced £30m by way of a capital injection, enabling the club to settle the liability when Recon defaulted on the payment.

Villa’s revenue for 2018/19 was also down £14.3m to £54.3m which the club said was due to a reduction in Premier League “parachute payments” in their third successive season playing in the Championship.

The club said its owners had introduced £105.7m into the club during the financial year, all of which was in the form of capital injections, meaning it remained debt free and were able to comply with financial fair play (FFP) regulations despite making substantial losses.

A club statement read: “Aston Villa can confirm that in the three-year period ending 31st May 2019, the club complied with the EFL’s (English Football League) Profitability & Sustainability Rules. After promotion, the Premier League reviewed and confirmed compliance in accordance with their own policies and procedures.”