Manchester City have reported a massive fall in annual losses from £51.6m to £22.9m on record revenues of £346.5million.
Hailing a “memorable year”, in which City won the Barclays Premier League and Capital One Cup, bought or invested in clubs in the US. Japan and Australia, chairman Khaldoon Al Mubarak said: “We are performing very strongly off the pitch.
“Consistent with our strategy, Manchester City has once again reduced its losses and has also come close to breaking even in 2013/14. Furthermore, we expect to move into profitability in the year ahead.”
The first year of the new television deal with BSkyB and BT Sport sent broadcast revenues in the year to the end of May soaring 51% to £133.2m, while commercial partnerships revenue rose 16% to £165.8m. Matchday revenue climbed by 20% to £47.5m.
Al Mubarak added: “The establishment of the City Football Group, now with professional clubs in the UK, US, Australia and Japan, has created commercial opportunities on an entirely different scale. Today, the City Football Group is attracting global sponsors and creating what we believe is a genuinely new model for a successful sports and commercial enterprise.”
City said after heavy investment in the recent past, its wage costs had been “stabilised” and the wage-turnover ratio now stands at 59%, compared with 86% last year.
City are now no longer the club with the biggest wage bill in the Premier League – they are now second on £204m (from £233m in 2013) behind Manchester United’s £214.8m.
Chief executive Ferran Soriano, said the club had attained “a new level of financial sustainability” and had halved losses for three consecutive years.
The £23m loss would have fallen further still but for a £16m payment to European football’s governing body UEFA for previous breaches of its Financial Fair Play regulations.