LFC Accounts 2015/16

[Trumo]

I know it's being discussed in the Peter Moore thread but these have absolutely nothing to do with him.

 

http://www.liverpoolfc.com/news/announcements/255334-lfc-announces-financial-results-for-year-to-may-2016

 

LFC announces financial results for year to May 2016

 

Liverpool FC has filed its annual accounts for the year to May 31, 2016 reporting that revenues are continuing to grow, creating further financial stability for the club.

 

Overall revenue increased to a record £301m and has grown year on year since Fenway Sports Group (FSG) took ownership of LFC in October 2010. Media revenue and matchday revenue increased, mainly as a result of the club reaching two cup finals and a successful pre-season tour in Asia and Australia.

 

Commercial revenues remained strong despite the construction of the Main Stand at Anfield impacting on access to the stadium on a non-matchday. Ten new partnerships were announced during the reporting period, including Draftkings, Vixlet, Claymore Wines and Skype; while four existing partners renewed their deals, further demonstrating the club’s global appeal. The club also launched an official LFC online store on the JD.com marketplace in China - becoming the first football club in Europe to do so.

 

Digitally, there was an 18 per cent increase in new followers, taking the overall total to over 50 million across the club’s social media platforms. New LFC websites were also launched in Arabic, French and Spanish.

 

Despite overall revenue increasing, the club reported a loss of £19.8m for the period, mainly as a result of further investment and turnover in the first-team squad. Twelve additions were made to the first team, including Roberto Firmino, James Milner, Marko Grujic, Danny Ings, Nathaniel Clyne and Joe Gomez. Young player development also continues to be an important part of the club’s football strategy, with 12 Academy players offered professional contracts.

 

Andy Hughes, chief operating officer at Liverpool Football Club, said: “These results demonstrate the solid financial progress that’s been made over the past six years under the leadership of FSG with continued investment in the playing squad and the completion of the main stand.

 

“The increase in the underlying revenue adds further strength to the club’s financial position despite the cost of football rising with player transfer fees, wages and agents’ costs.

 

“During this reporting period, we also agreed a new five-year credit facility, which further secures the club’s long-term financial stability.

 

“All three main revenue streams continue to show strength and commercial revenues held firm irrespective of the impact of the Main Stand at Anfield.”

 

Liverpool is the only club in the top 10 of the Deloitte Football Money League that didn’t play in the UEFA Champions League last season - demonstrating the strength of its commercial operations to support reinvestment into the playing squad.

 

Since the reporting period, the club has continued to grow its partnership portfolio, with Bet Victor, Malaysia Airlines, Konami and Alcatel all joining up.

 

Hughes added: “Since this reporting period, which is nearly a year ago, we have continued to make solid financial progress and we expect to see further growth in our revenues following the successful opening of the Main Stand and the new media deal.

 

“Our commercial operations continue to thrive through new partnerships, global retail growth and developing our international soccer schools, with our newest Academy opening recently in Australia.

 

“Being able to connect directly with supporters around the world is extremely important and a key part of our digital strategy. We continue to see more and more supporters joining our channels and we are approaching seven million followers on our global Twitter account.

 

“The investments from this ownership have been a key factor to our financial and global progress. We have seen continued investment in the playing squad; the expanded Main Stand; the new flagship retail store opening later this year; fully refurbished retail stores in Liverpool and Belfast; and we are consulting on a proposed development at our Academy in Kirkby to bring together the first team and our young players.

 

“These investments all contribute to further progress and strengthen the club’s financial position which ultimately serves to support all of our football ambitions.”

 

Financial summary

• Revenue increased by £3.9m to  £301.8m
• Media revenue increased by £1m to £123.6m
• Match day revenue increased by £3.4m to £62.4m
• Commercial revenue decreased by £0.7m to £115.7m
• The loss before tax was £19.8 million
• LFC maintain ninth position in Deloitte Football Money League

 

 

These are the numbers for a season that included League Cup and Europa League runs, and yet the club has seen minimal growth in all the key areas. Matchday revenue will see the biggest percentage jump in the next set of accounts as the impact of the new Main Stand takes effect. TV money from the new Premier League deal will see another spike. Other than that, we are being blown into the weeds by some of the deals other clubs have managed to secure.

 

Man Utd's commercial revenue from just two deals (Adidas and Chevrolet) matches our entire commercial revenue, and Chelsea next season will be making twice as much from their Nike and Yokohama deals as we do from New Balance and Standard Chartered. Just going by those shirt sales figures posted recently, Chelsea are selling nearly twice as many shirts as we are, and Man Utd nearly 4 times as many. It's details like that which make FSG's statements about positive results, squad investment and competitiveness look like Donald Trump telling us his version of the truth.

[Kevin D]

Cunt accounts.

[Jairzinho]

Accunts.

[Trumo]

The full set of accounts aren't yet available from Companies House, but the last few have failed to verify a statement made way back in 2011, prior to the Adidas kit deal expiring in 2012. When the club signed a kit deal with Warrior, one of the reasons given for choosing a fledging manufacturer was that the club would control their entire merchandising operation, which wouldn't be the case with the likes of Adidas and especially Nike. On top of the £25m a year Warrior were paying, the club stated they expected to make as much again extra in merchandising, thus making the club £50m a year. The club has never provided information to back up these claims. When NB took over the Warrior contract, no figures were mentioned, nor the duration of the contract. It was simply stated as 'multi year'. At the time, the original deal still had 3 years to run, so covering the remaining 3 years could be deemed to be 'multi year' technically. There was a suggestion that the basic amount NB were paying per year was more than the £25m Warrior had been paying, but that was because the NB deal had been announced as a record deal for the club so people would rightfully assume the club to be getting even more.

 

If the NB deal is due up in 2018, then I would imagine the club would be negotiating around about now both with NB and other potential suitors. FSG need to look at the best deal for the club, not the best deal for their mates which is evidently what the Warrior and NB deals look like. Chelsea are getting £60m a year from Nike from next season, and Man Utd will get £75m from Adidas if they finish in the top four or win the Europa League (they would face a £20m hit from Adidas if they miss out on the CL two years running). Arsenal currently get £30m a year from Puma, and Spurs will get £30m a year from Nike from next season. These are all bigger than what NB pay us.

 

Standard Chartered have a couple of years left on their sponsorship deal. There again, the club should be looking for the best deal. There are 3 Premier League clubs who earn more from shirt sponsorship than LFC, and 4 if you count City's deal with Etihad.

 

I realise the above won't interest many people and that the most important thing is continuous investment in the playing squad to deliver trophies and titles, but unless we spawn a league title out of nowhere like Leicester did, struggling to keep up off the field will only see us continue to struggle to keep up on the field. I don't want us to simply keep up, I want us to be ahead of the pack.

[magicrat]

The owners either make a big investment in new players in the summer or we can forget CL,

Its gone this season already, Alternative is Klopp will leave as will the likes of Coutinho and Mane .There is the final option of selling up and I would nit be surprised to see that very much in the agenda again soon

[Paco]

Know fuck all about this but saw a breakdown that commercial revenues were down?

 

How the fuck can that happen when we're all about the commercial revenues.

[Bobby Hundreds]

Shit teams get less revenue. Somebody should tell FSG.

[jimmycase]

Know fuck all about this but saw a breakdown that commercial revenues were down?

 

How the fuck can that happen when we're all about the commercial revenues.

 

Main Stand development affected hospitality income from non matchday events in this period's accounts. They are for the period 2015 to 2016 dont forget.

[Paco]

Will we be massively in profit for the next accounts since we took more than we spent on transfers in the summer?

[jimmycase]

Will we be massively in profit for the next accounts since we took more than we spent on transfers in the summer?

 

There's probably more Main Stand development costs, fees for Wijnaldum, Mane and Karis and more loss of non matchday income in the next accounts. That should be offset by the transfer surplus and increased income from the operating new Main Stand facilities,

 

Overall, the club is confident the accounts ending this coming May will be a lot better. Dont forget the club doesnt finalise its accounts until 9 months after that hence why we are just seeing 2015 / 16 accounts.

[The Woolster]

Full accounts available now if anyone is interested

 

https://beta.companieshouse.gov.uk/company/00035668/filing-history

[General Dryness]

John Henry has seen significant growth in the "look at the size of my yacht" sector.

[Denny Crane]

I saw this posted but thought it was utter rubbish. To be that high we must be rooting the bill for their moats and man Friday working the yacht.

 

Nick Harris‏ @sportingintel

Liverpool's wage bill 2015-16, confirmed today: £208m. That's bigger than Man City (£198m) and Arsenal (£195m). Smaller only than MUFC, CFC

 

If so needs investigating.

 

The one that stands out for me is wages - Mr A Yacht 60 million.

[jimmycase]

Directors have taken zero dividends.

[Denny Crane]

Someone suggested it includes payouts to Rodgers and his backroom team at 15.8 million.

 

Even then it seems odd.

[jimmycase]

Someone suggested it includes payouts to Rodgers and his backroom team at 15.8 million.

 

Even then it seems odd.

 

There's no suggestion about it. Why does £15.8m pay off to rodgers and his backroom staff seem odd? He wasnt long into a new contract.

[Denny Crane]

 

There's no suggestion about it. Why does £15.8m pay off to rodgers and his backroom staff seem odd? He wasnt long into a new contract.

No contracts have to be paid off no sympathy for the thick cunts giving Rodgers an extended contract.

 

More that our wage bill is higher than Arsenal and Manchester City.

 

Can anyone who knows numbers explain why when our squad are on performance related wages and our squad is ....

 

Creative bookkeeping money, siphoned off etc?

 

Fat wages for the likes of Billy Hogan and co because not many people think it has gone into the playing squad.

[Russ Atmosphere]

Wages to turnover 69%. 

 

Klopp has unlimited funds though.

[Dr Nowt]

Can a moderater move this to the shitness of modern football thread, please.

[jimmycase]

No contracts have to be paid off no sympathy for the thick cunts giving Rodgers an extended contract.

 

More that our wage bill is higher than Arsenal and Manchester City.

 

Can anyone who knows numbers explain why when our squad are on performance related wages and our squad is ....

 

Creative bookkeeping money, siphoned off etc?

 

Fat wages for the likes of Billy Hogan and co because not many people think it has gone into the playing squad.

 

No contracts have to be paid off? Contracts have clauses in them. They have to be paid off if they are terminated.

 

Our wage bill is higher than Arsenal and City? In the same period? I thought people were whinging because we wouldnt pay more than other clubs to attract the players we want? So now you expect them to pay less?

 

Creative bookkeeping? Erm, ok.

[Denny Crane]

I'm commenting on the fact that our wage bill according to those alleged numbers is higher than Arsenal and City.

 

If you don't think that is strange looking at our playing squad for that period then fair enough.

[jimmycase]

I'm commenting on the fact that our wage bill according to those alleged numbers is higher than Arsenal and City.

 

If you don't think that is strange looking at our playing squad then fair enough.

 

And Im saying are you comparing like with like and also saying people are saying we arent paying high wages to attract players.

 

Id say if our player wage bill is higher than city's for the same period and is like for like, then, the creative bookkeeping you refer to must be going on at city and not Liverpool.

[The Woolster]

Someone suggested it includes payouts to Rodgers and his backroom team at 15.8 million.

 

Even then it seems odd.

 

Redundancy costs are listed separately at £15.7m.

 

The increase in wages is £42m, this is massive, and at the moment, I can't figure out why. The players we bought in were on modest contracts, and I don't remember that many contract extensions. We know that they wage structure is a lot more incentive based, and we did reach 2 finals, however we also did not finish in the top 4.

[The Woolster]

City definitely have used some creative accounting, although I am not sure how big a difference it makes. A couple of seasons ago they transferred a load of back room staff to the City Group, so a load of costs/wages disappeared which helped them with FFP, but not sure if their wages would be that big.

[Trumo]

I know that LFC agreed to living wage conditions for its employees, which as of an Echo article date March 2015 stated they would start doing so 'from next year'. Whether that means from the following season, or the following accounting period (the year covered in these latest accounts) or the general tax year (April 6th to April 5th), or from the calendar year 2016, I can't be sure. Regardless, I wouldn't have thought it would bump up the numbers drastically.

 

Apart from the cost of paying off Rodgers and his staff, I have a feeling that a large chunk of the increase is due to bonuses for the players. Our players' contracts are heavily incentivised rather than front-loaded with high basic salaries so it's possible that reaching 2 cup finals triggered bonuses in most of the players' contracts. On that assumption, the bonuses would have been higher if the team had actually won something. That would probably also have triggered add-on clauses in the players' contracts. We've not had to pay much in add-ons for winning shit over the past decade, that's for sure.