Celtic PLC interim report

https://www.celticfc.com/news/2025/february/10/celtic-plc-interim-report/

 

https://www.celticfc.com/news/2025/february/10/celtic-plc-interim-report/

Celtic have released their Interim Report for the six months to December 31, 2024.

Key Operational Items

• 14 home fixtures (2023: 14).
• Participation in the UEFA Champions League group stages for both the Men’s and Women’s first teams.
• Post period end qualification for the play-off round of the Men’s UEFA Champions League.
• Winners of the Premier Sports Cup 2024.

Key Financial Items

• Revenue reduced by 2.1% to £83.5m (2023: £85.2m).
• Profit from trading before intangible asset transactions was £26.9m (2023: £32.0m).
• Profit from transfer of player registrations (shown as profit on disposal of intangible assets) £21.5m (2023: £2.6m).
• Profit before taxation of £43.9m (2023: £30.3m).
• Acquisition of player registrations of £28.1m (2023: £12.9m).
• Period end cash of £65.4m (2023: £67.3m).

Celtic plc Interim Report

Club News

By Celtic Football Club

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10 Feb 2025, 5:41 pm
Celtic have released their Interim Report for the six months to December 31, 2024.

Key Operational Items

• 14 home fixtures (2023: 14).
• Participation in the UEFA Champions League group stages for both the Men’s and Women’s first teams.
• Post period end qualification for the play-off round of the Men’s UEFA Champions League.
• Winners of the Premier Sports Cup 2024.

Key Financial Items

• Revenue reduced by 2.1% to £83.5m (2023: £85.2m).
• Profit from trading before intangible asset transactions was £26.9m (2023: £32.0m).
• Profit from transfer of player registrations (shown as profit on disposal of intangible assets) £21.5m (2023: £2.6m).
• Profit before taxation of £43.9m (2023: £30.3m).
• Acquisition of player registrations of £28.1m (2023: £12.9m).
• Period end cash of £65.4m (2023: £67.3m).

CHAIRMAN’S STATEMENT
The results for the six months ended 31 December 2024 show revenues of £83.5m (2023: £85.2m) and a profit from trading, representing the profit excluding other income and player related gains and charges, totalling £26.9m (2023: profit of £32.0m). The profit before finance income & expense and taxation (“PBIT”) amounted to £43.9m (2023: £30.3m).

Although reported revenue has fallen by £1.7m (or 2.1%), and the total matches played over the period of 14 was in line with the same period last year, the match composition varied from the prior period and consequently, this impacted the amount recognised per match in the first half of the year. In addition, as the new UEFA format now introduces games in the second half of the financial year, an element of UEFA revenue requires to be deferred and recognised in the second half of the year. Both factors have led to the reduction in reported revenue but will reverse in FY25 H2.

Profit from trading has reduced £5.1m between the six months ended 31 December 2024 compared to the same period last year due to a number of factors including, higher labour costs, the full year effect of higher utility contracts entered into in the prior year and significant stadium preventative maintenance spending. The increase in the PBIT of £13.6m to £43.9m was mainly driven by the exit of seven players resulting in the net gain on player trading of £21.5m (2023: £2.6m) which included Matt O’Riley, Bosun Lawal, Tomoki Iwata, Michael Johnston, Yuki Kobayashi, Daniel Kelly and Hyeongyu Oh.

It is important to note with respect to cash and cash equivalents, that over the last six months, despite significant profitability from player trading and a successful Champions League campaign, we saw a £11.8m reduction in cash reserves from £77.2m at 30 June 2024 to £65.4m at 31 December 2024 (31 December 2023: £67.3m). The key drivers of this were the significant transfer spend incurred in the period, where we exceeded our record transfer spend twice, and the investment into the first team playing squad wage costs, and our continued investment into infrastructure including our Barrowfield development, Lennoxtown and Celtic Park.

During the January 2025 transfer window, we acquired the permanent registration of Jota and the temporary registration of Jeffrey Schlupp. In addition, we extended the contract of Kasper Schmeichel and entered into a pre-contract agreement that will see Keiran Tierney return to Celtic in July 2025. We disposed of the registrations of Kyogo Furuhashi, Alexander Bernabei and placed Luis Palma, Odin Holm and Stephen Welsh on Loan.

Our commitment as always is to invest in continuous improvement in all areas of the club and, most importantly, in the first team squad. The success of our model has ensured that funding is available to acquire players who will contribute to ongoing success. We invested significantly in the summer transfer window and while we aimed to do more in the recent window, we go into the remainder of the season from a strong position and with confidence.

At the time of writing, we sit in first position and 13 points ahead in the SPFL and in December 2024 secured a victory over Rangers to win the Premier Sports Cup. We have also progressed to the quarter finals of the Scottish Cup as we aim to retain this trophy for the third consecutive year. Following finishing 21st of 36 in the Champions League group phase, we entered the knock-out round of the competition, which sees us drawn against German Bundesliga league leaders and six times European Champions Bayern Munich, in what will be both a challenging and exciting tie.

Our Women’s team reached its first ever Champions League Group Stage competition where we were drawn against Chelsea, Real Madrid and Twente. This was a challenging group and whilst we were unable to secure a victory in our first venture in the Women’s Champions League, we were proud of the performances, and Elena and the team took much experience from it. At the time of writing, our Celtic Women’s team sits joint top with Glasgow City in the SWPL in what is an exciting and highly competitive league. Four teams sit within two points of each other and with 12 games remaining our Women’s team are competing to retain the SWPL title won last season for the first time.

The Club’s earnings profile and cash generation from trading is biased toward the first half of our financial year and we naturally expect a seasonal downturn in earnings in the second half of the year. This reflects the fact that receipts from European competition are largely recognised in the first half of the year, whereas the second half does not benefit from this. In addition, strong player trading gains in August 2024 were not replicated in January 2025. This seasonal profiling is entirely within expectations and our planning assumptions. Our outturn earnings can also be materially impacted by football success and the year-end assessment of player registration carrying values. Taking all of this into consideration, we would expect our total outturn financial performance for the year ending 30 June 2025 to be significantly lower than the result posted for the first six months of the financial year.

I wish to extend our gratitude and appreciation to our supporters for the backing of our Club on behalf of the Board. Thanks also must go to our employees, shareholders and commercial partners for their continued support.

Peter Lawwell
Chairman
10 February 2025

 

They have deffered almost all the uefa money to 2nd half of season or else cash would have been £100m

 

Report confirms KT will be returning in the summer.

 

Some amount cash. Just listening to a few roasters on Super scoreboard, they could be doing with a little hand out.....

 

Just the £44m profit, sorry. Was gonna be 70 but I had a few sherries at Christmas and went a bit mental playing online Blackjack

 

Ma bhoy Pedro. Legend.

 

£8.5million spent on "property plant and equipment" in 6 months.

* are probably buying Ferraris and Lambourghinis to convert into lawnmowers for the training ground just to get rid of some of the money.

 

Caked..

 

Nah that's Brendan's, he's got a better of a grow going in his loft. We'll see the benefits in the end of year report.

 

Aye, beyond minted with multiple players that are worth £15 million and above.

Really hope this is the window we finally push on.

 

What's the cash at bank projection for 6 months time ? UCL money plus ST renewals ?

 

Not included in the accounts is two lorry loads of Joe Hart Easter eggs that I forgot to sell last year. Available for £1.50 a pop in stores now (rrp £4.99)

 

Your doing very well peter keep up the good work

 

Even though the renewals comes early id assumes they put that in next year's accounts. The current 6 months would probably include most of the CL money. Although plenty is paid out in May, probably already classed as revenue as money guaranteed.

 

Fantastic numbers and thrown in the CL money we are in some position.

 

Interest on our cash reserves is probably more than the the profit of any team in Scotland (2.5m)

 

Two years in a row as well in only 6 months.

Must be £5million over a whole year, basically a free signing every summer.