For the 2014/15 financial year, City have announced a profit of £10.7million while revealing that their revenue jumped massively from £5.3m to £352m.
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Commercial revenue was up four per cent to £173 million (€233.3 million), and broadcast revenue up two per cent to £135.4 million (€182.6 million), despite match day revenue decreasing by nine per cent to £43.3 million (€58.4 million).
An increased stadium capacity following construction work to expand the Etihad Stadium from its 47,000 capacity to the current size of 54,000 is likely to see increased profits becoming a more regular occurrence for the club.
City now boast a greater revenue than Arsenal for the first time, but their chairman Khaldoon Al Mubarak recognised the “disappointment” of last season.
City’s financial results show the club are now competing with neighbours Manchester United off the pitch as well as on it. Overall revenue is in the same ball-park (£351.8m compared to United’s £395m), the wage bill is similar but City do not have to pay anything in debt repayments.
Soriano added: “The seeds of this year’s profit were sown a few years ago”.
Talking of the Club’s growth and its move into profit, Al Mubarak references His Highness Sheikh Mansour’s strategy laid out in 2008 as “a strategy predicated on long -term sustainability and the ongoing development of momentum year after year”. “We also know that this is not the end, but the continuation of a process that should take us to an even brighter future”.
Within the report City are at pains to point out that they have zero debt – unlike their cross town rivals who still owe £411m following the Glazer family’s leveraged takeover in 2005.
The academy “has global resonance and that has significantly contributed to the ongoing growth of the Manchester City brand globally”, said Mr Al Mubarak in the forward to the club’s annual report.
Pep Guardiola, a long-term managerial target of City, will be available next summer when his Bayern Munich contract expires, and Khaldoon cranked up the pressure on Pellegrini when reflecting on last season’s disappointment in the annual report.
Chief Executive Ferran Soriano said: “The 2014-15 season marked a historic step in Manchester City’s journey”.
‘The fact that we consider last season to be below par for Manchester City is a testament to how far we have come in the last seven years, ‘ he said. This is a level of ambition that we should not shirk or shy away from.
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Soriano said: “We will never be happy about a season without trophies. The priority and the focus of our work is to convert more of these opportunities into titles in the years ahead”.
