Manchester City profit doubles on higher revenue

Manchester City’s manager Pep Guardiola, centre, has propelled the club to an exciting start for the season. Lintao Zhang / Getty Images

Manchester City has nearly doubled its profit as revenue increased and the proportion of its income going to player wages continued to fall.

The English Premiership football club on Tuesday reported a profit of £20.48 million (Dh91.4m) for the 2015-16 season compared to a £10.54m after-tax profit for the 2014-15 season. It reported record annual revenue of £391.77m, an 11 per cent rise on the £351.76m in revenue Manchester City earned in 2014-15.

Last season’s rise in profit comes as the club’s wage-to-turnover ­ratio fell to 50 per cent from 55 per cent.

Wages stood at £197.5 compared to £193.8m in the earlier season.

In 2015-2016, commercial revenue increased 2.8 per cent to £177.9 from £173m and broadcast revenue was up 19 per cent to £161.4 from £135.4m, thanks to City’s run to the semi-finals of the UEFA Champions League. Matchday revenue rose by 21 per cent to £52.5 from £43.3m after the club’s Etihad Stadium was expanded to a capacity of 55,000 seats for the start of the 2015-16 season.

The club also made a profit of £20.7 on player sales during the period compared to a profit of £12.9m a season earlier.

City’s chairman, Khaldoon Al Mubarak, said in its annual report that the 2015-16 season was a turning point in the club’s evolution.

He added: “Manchester City has now reached a level of sporting and commercial maturity that allows one to feed the ­other.”

“I believe the 2016-17 season represents the beginning of a critical new phase in the evolution of Manchester City. We know that we have the playing, coaching and off-field capabilities at our disposal to achieve great things in English and European football in the years ahead,” Mr Al Mubarak said.

Manchester City currently sit at the top of the English Premier League table after an exciting start under new coach Pep Guardiola and a number of new signings, including young English defender John Stones, bought from Everton for a reported fee of £47.5m.

In October, Manchester City reported its first profit in the seven years since Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed bought it in 2008.

The club ranked sixth in Del­oitte’s football money league for the 2014-2015 season when it became only the second English club ever to break the £350m revenue barrier, Deloitte said in January.

Real Madrid, Barcelona and City’s local rivals Manchester United are the top three, all earning revenue of more than £500m.

Manchester City is part of City Football Group, which is majority owned by Sheikh Mansour’s Abu Dhabi United Group.

As well as Manchester City, the group includes football clubs New York City FC, Melbourne City and Yokohama F Marinos, the Japanese team in which it has a minority stake.

In December, a consortium led by China Media Capital (CMC) Holdings paid US$400m for a 13 per cent stake in City Football Group, valuing the company at $3 billion.

“Our new partners are instrumental in our ability to understand and foster the opportunities for our group in China,” City’s chief executive Ferran Soriano said in the annual report.

“As our commercial structure continued to mature, we opened new offices in Singapore and Shanghai...We are confident that all these positives will make for an even better 12 months to come.”

From the current season, all 20 English Premier League clubs will share a £10.4bn global television deal. The three-year agreement is the biggest in world football.

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