Celtic post £13.4m profit as cash reserves increase

Celtic have made a profit for the third year running with a post-tax amount of £13.4m reported for the year to June.

Pre-tax profit of £17.8m is down on the previous year’s £40.7m, largely due to a £10m increase in operating expenses, but revenue has increased by almost £5m to £124.6m while year-end cash is also up by a similar amount to £77.2m.

A strong end to last season meant Celtic’s men’s team won both the Premiership and Scottish Cup while the women’s team won the SWPL for the first time.

Earlier in the campaign, Brendan Rodgers’ men’s side competed in the Champions League.

Chairman Peter Lawwell said, external the “decrease in profit before tax, although significant, was in line with expectations”.

The club say they made a £6.6m gain on player sales, compared with £14.4m in 2023, while £16.6m was spent on player acquisitions.

Celtic signed Luis Palma and Nicolas Kuhn during the accounting period while fellow winger Liel Abada was a prominent departure for a reported £8m.

And Lawwell commented: “Our gain on sale achieved in the year was £7.8m lower than in the prior year. We also invested higher sums into the men’s team compared to the prior year in the form of salaries.

“In addition, we have experienced a rise in overhead costs driven by the high inflationary environment in which the business has operated over the last year. There was also the absence of £13.5m of non-recurring other income which was specific to the prior year.”

Lawwell also cited “the commencement of significant capital expenditure projects, including the Barrowfield [training facility] re-development and a number of stadium maintenance projects”.

Subsequent to the accounting period, Celtic sold Matt O’Riley to Brighton for a record £25m while other sales included Tomoki Iwata and Mikey Johnston. Spending on players totalled £31.2m, including the record signing of midfielder Arne Engels for a reported £11m.

‘Domestic media rights unable to keep pace’

Celtic are top of the Premiership with maximum points and on Wednesday will open their Champions League campaign with a home match against Slovan Bratislava in the new ‘league phase’ of the competition.

Elena Sadiku’s women’s team are unbeaten in the SWPL and will later this month compete with Ukraine’s Vorskla Poltava for a place in the Women’s Champions League group stage.

“As well as delivering domestic success, we are determined to progress as far as possible in European competition and improve upon our recent record,” added Lawwell.

“We cannot and must not be complacent and we must strive for progression as a club as the football industry evolves at a remarkable pace.”

However, the chairman also stated that “domestic media rights have been unable to keep pace with the media rights environment of our competitor markets and football industry inflation in general over recent years”.

“This means that securing the best players is more challenging and we must work harder than ever to bring success,” he explained.