LFC announces financial results for year to May 31, 2022

Summary of the financial period: 

• Covers the first full season post-pandemic
• Media revenue fell by £5m to £261m
• Matchday revenue rose by £83m to £86m
• Commercial revenue rose by £29m to £247m
• Administrative costs rose by £69m to £545m
• Overall revenue rose by £107m to £594m
• Profit before tax was £7.5m

From winning the FA Cup and Carabao Cup for the eighth and ninth time respectively, this reporting period covers a season when Liverpool played in every club game possible, 63 matches in total.

The reported media revenue however did reduce by £5m as a result of the Premier League extending the 2019-20 season with additional games played beyond the previous reporting period, as a result of the pandemic.

The pandemic period also impacted the reported matchday revenue with a significant increase of £83m which is a result of going from no supporters in the previous season to full capacities in this reporting period.

Commercial revenue increased by £29m, with strong growth in partnerships and the reopening of non-matchday operations with the global retail stores and stadium tours and museum centre. A total of eight new partnerships were signed throughout the reporting period, including Sonos, Kodansha, Vistaprint and Wasabi. One partnership was renewed, football simulation game partner EA SPORTS.

In the retail operations, this period also saw another record-breaking kit sale with the Nike partnership bringing more global distribution opportunities. The club also added 51 new shop-in-shop locations and signed 19 new international licensing deals. Ecommerce also grew with mobile transactions increasing by over 60 per cent and shipping LFC products to over 190 countries.

Digitally, the club gained over 21m new social media followers, taking the total followers to 127m across its social media channels. LFC is also one of four global football clubs to record over 5bn video views, and it has the largest viewing figures in world football on YouTube.

The cost of football continued to rise throughout this period with administrative expenses increasing by £69m to £545m, which is due to the increase in salary costs and matchday overhead costs. In the past five years, annual operating costs for Anfield have increased by nearly 40 per cent.

The profit before tax for this reporting period was £7.5m. LFC moved up four places to third position in the Deloitte Football Money League report for 2021-22.

On the pitch, seven new players were signed, including Ibrahima Konate, Luis Diaz, Fabio Carvalho, Ben Doak and Bobby Clark. Twenty-two current player contracts were extended throughout this period with Jordan Henderson, Harvey Elliott, Andy Robertson, Alisson Becker, Stefan Bajcetic and Diogo Jota all signing long-term deals.

Andy Hughes, LFC’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 - 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.”