Liverpool have returned to profit for the first time since the 2018/19 financial year as the club grew revenues to a record £594m.
The Reds’ latest accounts for the year ending May 2022, published today, show the club grew revenues by £107m over the last financial year, with a pre-tax profit of £7.5m recorded.
The results included the first full year post pandemic with the return of matchday revenue to pre-Covid levels thanks to fans being back in stadiums, seeing a jump of £83m, from £3m in 2020/21 to £86m in 2021/22.
Wages rose to £366m, up £54m from £314m in the previous season. Seven new players were signed, including Luis Diaz and Fabio Carvalho, while extensions were handed to 22 players including Jordan Henderson, Harvey Elliott, Ibrahima Konate, Andy Robertson, Alisson Becker, Stefan Bajcetic and Diogo Jota. Mohamed Salah’s contract renewal occurred outside the 2021/22 reporting period.
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Commercial revenue at the club was up £29m to £247m thanks to a series of new partnerships including firms such as Wasabi and VistaPrint. The continued impact of the Nike kit deal, which was inked in 2019, and in which the club get 20 per cent of the sale of Liverpool/Nike branded merchandise globally on top of a flat £30m per season, also continued to yield positive returns with another record-breaking kit launch.
Liverpool also added 51 new shop-in-shop locations and signed 19 new international licensing deals, while ecommerce also grew with mobile transactions increasing by over 60 per cent and Liverpool merchandise being shipped to over 190 countries.
Media revenues dropped by £5m year-on-year to £261m due to the previous financial year having included extra games in the reporting period owing to the pausing of the 2019/20 season because of the pandemic. The revenue related to those extra games appeared in the 2020/21 financial period.
Liverpool have been toiling with an increase in costs, meaning that even though the club played in every possible game that it could during the 2021/22 season, winning two cups, finishing second in the Premier League and reaching the final of the Champions League, a profit of just £7.5m has been booked.
Over the past five years the club has seen its administration expenses, the costs to run the club each year, increase by 70 per cent from £320m to £545m, while staff costs, largely attributable to the first-team playing contracts, have increased by 76 per cent from £208m to £366m over the same period. Annual operating costs for Anfield have increased by nearly 40 per cent, mainly due to market driven factors and rising inflation impacting significant cost lines including wage costs, labour-based contracts, utilities and rates.
Andy Hughes, Liverpool's managing director, said: “Some of the numbers in these latest accounts look slightly skewed as a result of the previous reporting period being impacted by the global pandemic. However, the underlying strength of our financial position remains strong and we continue to operate a sustainable club which is our main objective from a financial perspective.
“It was really great having supporters back at Anfield and returning to some sort of normality after a really challenging period for everyone.
“For our men’s team to play the maximum 63 games in this reported season is an incredible achievement and winning more trophies is exactly what we continue to strive for. Our women’s team also had success by gaining promotion to the WSL was a great achievement and exactly where we need them to be competing.
“The cost of running a football club does continue to rise. But we maintain our position of growing this club with significant investment with new and existing players signing contracts and the construction of the new Anfield Road Stand which we look forward to coming on stream in the summer. In the last five years we have invested over £250m in infrastructure and created world-class facilities for our players, staff and supporters.
“What’s important now is to finish this season as strong as possible, both on and off the pitch, while we continue to manage costs and explore opportunities for growth in our commercial operations so we can continue to reinvest revenues in players and infrastructure.”
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