Spurs latest accounts - June 2012

[Spursidol]

Spurs as a private company do not need to publically publish their accounts - although they need to file them at Companies House, and they became available last week.

The Swiss Ramble carried out a brief review of them on twitter (he says he no longer has time to do the lengthy analyses he used to) . Below are the most interesting tweets (recognising its a bit of a dry subject !) :

• Tottenham Hotspur 2012 full accounts have been published: loss before tax £7.3m (2011 profit before tax £0.4m)
• Thanks to tax credits, #THFC loss after tax smaller (than before tax loss) at £4.3m (2011 profit after tax £0.7m).
• revenue dropped 12% from last year’s record £163.5m to £144.2m, which is still 6th highest in England and 13th highest in the world.
• 2012 revenue £144.2.5m (2011 £163.5m): match day £41.1m (2011 £43.3m), TV £61.6m (2011 £83.1m), commercial £41.5m (2011 £37.1m).
• Main reason for #THFC £19.3m revenue fall is going from Champions to Europa, cutting prize money & gate receipts by £30.7m (37.1m to 6.4m).
• 2012 domestic TV revenue up £5m, mainly due to higher league position (4th vs 5th) and 6 more live televised matches.
• #THFC 2012 commercial income up £4m, mainly due to more revenue from main sponsorship deal, offset by lower merchandising sales
• 2012 profit on player sales £9.2m similar to 2011 £8.6m, including Crouch, Palacios, Keane, O’Hara, Hutton, Pavlyuchenko and Corluka.
• 2012 staff costs cut 1% to £90.2m (2011 £91.1m), though wages to turnover ratio rose from 56% to 63% following fall in revenue.
• 2012 player amortisation fell £14.5m to £25m “as a result of significant player disposals”.
• 2012 gross debt up £8m to £86m (2011 £78m), comprising bank loans and securitisation funds. Less £16m cash gives net debt of £70m.
• 2012 net interest payable up to £5.7m (2011 £1m), mainly due to no interest credit on Preference Shares (£4m in 2011).
• continued to invest heavily in the stadium project and new training centre – £42m net (according to cash flow statement).
• Assets under construction (stadium & new training centre) now stand at £132m. No depreciation charges until in use.
• finances will be boosted in 2012/13 season by hefty player sales, e.g. Modric to Real Madrid and Van der Vaart to Hamburg.

Not sure if anyone can get hold of a copy of Spurs accounts to hang on this thread to see if anything the Swiss Ramble has overlooked ?

 

[Spursidol]

A few interesting changes :

1 CL football gave £25m more revenue in 2011 than EL in 2012, it really is hugely significant to get regular CL revenue

2. I am surprised wages have not fallen more without CL football, it must mean basic wages wre higher (previous year was higher due to CL bonuses) - unless part of the reason is a big payment when Redknapp and team left and AVB and team joined ?

3. Spurs spent £42m last year on the new training ground and preparations for new stadium (probably combination of land acquisition, design frees, costs to get things through planning - think the land clearance was mainly after July so not that).

 

[AJW]

Does anyone know realistically how much we will be able to spend this summer in terms of FFP? I am not remotely an economics expert but didn't know if anyone could work out based on our revenue how much we will have available without sales

 

[Spursidol]

Does anyone know realistically how much we will be able to spend this summer in terms of FFP? I am not remotely an economics expert but didn't know if anyone could work out based on our revenue how much we will have available without sales

Its not possible.

On the face of it the club is at best breaking even - but there are allowable losses in the early days at FFP. However the accounts include costs (such as spend on academy) which do not need to be inluded for FFP - but the amount is not known.

Answer is likely to be - don't expect a very active TW from either Spurs or other clubs without sales.

 

[AJW]

Its not possible.

On the face of it the club is at best breaking even - but there are allowable losses in the early days at FFP. However the accounts include costs (such as spend on academy) which do not need to be inluded for FFP - but the amount is not known.

Answer is likely to be - don't expect a very active TW from either Spurs or other clubs without sales.

Okay cheers! Also - say we did get Champions League this year - surely that money wouldn't have an impact until next season when we actually have it depending how far we get?

 

[Spursidol]

Okay cheers! Also - say we did get Champions League this year - surely that money wouldn't have an impact until next season when we actually have it depending how far we get?

Correct money distributed in arrears - obviously we could risk boirrowing against it, but not sure we would do that, particuly since 4th place requires qualification to CL (ie one ties = limited cash) versus getting into group stages (= about £15m+)

Similatr argument to increased PL cash this season

 

[mark87]

Anyone else think Adebayor will also fall under depreciation?









I'm joking!!

 

[AJW]

Correct money distributed in arrears - obviously we could risk boirrowing against it, but not sure we would do that, particuly since 4th place requires qualification to CL (ie one ties = limited cash) versus getting into group stages (= about £15m+)

Similatr argument to increased PL cash this season

Cheers. Makes a lot more sense to me now!

 

[Sp3akerboxxx]

Anyone else think Adebayor will also fall under depreciation?









I'm joking!!

Funny thing is on some financial reports he will fall under the umbrella of "liabilities". Never has that been so apt

 

[leffe186]

I was hoping that wages would fall rather more too - enough to offset some of the drop in turnover and maybe even the operating loss. I wonder if players received appreciable bonuses for finishing fourth, despite the fact we didn't qualify for the CL.

Just another clear argument for getting the kids through the system and into the first team. Lower wages and amortization, which would probably see us break even before player sales.

I have still not been able to get my head round how we account for the infrastructure expenditure.

 

[Spursidol]

I was hoping that wages would fall rather more too - enough to offset some of the drop in turnover and maybe even the operating loss. I wonder if players received appreciable bonuses for finishing fourth, despite the fact we didn't qualify for the CL.

Just another clear argument for getting the kids through the system and into the first team. Lower wages and amortization, which would probably see us break even before player sales.

I have still not been able to get my head round how we account for the infrastructure expenditure.

Rumours were that we paid bonuses based upon getting 4th, but even with that agreed surprise wages didn't fall more - but then we did still have a big squad even when players were not being used - Cudicini, Krancjar etc plus I suspect Modric, VDV and King would be some of our high earners. Plus I suspect HR and team pay off inckuded ? Maybe AVB team 'hello' payment ?

Agreed re youth, lower wages until they prove themselves in first team and no transfeer fee (just an annual cost of maintaining academy) plus sales of youths who we have trained but do not need in our first team. Financially good - and we know them so no unforseen personality issues to deal with !

The infrastructure expenditure (land, buildings, fees to experts to get it built) are capitalised in balance sheet - only depreciated (ie cost in P & L) when brought into use, so training ground depreciated from September 2012 and stadium....later. Not sure if that helps enough or not

 

[Flashspur]

Thanks for posting - great info

 

[Spursidol]

Slide from Swiss Ramble showing Spurs wages (and wages as a % of turnover) which merely confirms we are doing much better on the field than our wages spend might expect

 

[Spursidol]

Swiss Ramble graph showing effect of CL on tv revenue

 

[sloth]

Slide from Swiss Ramble showing Spurs wages (and wages as a % of turnover) which merely confirms we are doing much better on the field than our wages spend might expect

Ignoring the blue line, the yellow columns show in absolute terms what we're up against. Our sky-scraper seems much more equivalent in height to the likes of Villa, Newcastle and Sunderland than it does to Liverpool and Arsenal above us. Perhaps you could argue that if wage spend was like the Tour de France we'd be a loan rider trying to bridge the gap between the main peloton and the break-away leaders, but whatever, we're definitely in a separate category to our rivals competing for the top 3.

I realise many have been banging this drum for years now (me included), but I think this kind of table really nicely illustrates the challenges facing us, and places what we've done and continue to do, and what we hope to do in the future in a proper perspective.

Here's what I take:

1. We're punching above our weight - if you did some kind of value assessment of the quality of our squad compared to those around I don't think you'd find a gap between us and the bigger spenders, but you would between us and the rest.
2. We're generating income over and above what you'd expect a club of our size, record, and importance should be able to do - there is no fundamental reason why clubs like Newcastle, Everton, Villa and Sunderland should under-perform us in this area.

As I've said many times before, our greatest asset is Levy, and his running of the club is scandalously under-rated by some, imo.

 

[elDiablo]

Funny thing is on some financial reports he will fall under the umbrella of "liabilities". Never has that been so apt

At the very least he should be tested for impairment....














sorry

 

[Bobbins]

Now will the people who were screaming for £20m to be spunked on a striker this summer kindly tell us where the money should come from?

Oh and the people who claim the stadium is Levy 'mugging us off' and 'will never happen' - care to explain where all that money's gone?

The facts are that we need a combination of the new stadium and regular CL football to be able to get anywhere near competing with the top clubs financially. As it is, we are a very well-run mid-table side who regularly punch above our weight.

 

[Spursidol]

Swiss Ramble graph showing effect of CL on tv revenue

Think this graph frequires an extra word too.

In rough terms it shows that TV money coming from being in CL is £20m+, which added to the UEFA prize money of £30m (see OP) shows that not getting into CL can easily cost £50m - and that is ignoring the extra gate money plus extra merchandising that CL entry would generate, so being in the CL is probably worthy £60m/£70m+.

Its certainly worth fighting for this season (and underlines the reason why HR had to go last season. In what other walk of life could an employee put at risk those sort of sums of money by going awol whilst pursuing tv cameras to explain why you would be a great manager, and expect to retain your employer's trust).

It would certainly make the financing of the stadium easier too.....as well as a shiny new striker !

 

[Spursidol]

This graph showing gross revenues shows that Spurs are part of the top 6 revenue earners - but last. Again emphasises how well we have done on the field, why we need a bigger stadium to generate more revenues (which will not only be from gate money) and why continuing to increase our commercial revenue sources are important - and why CL would be kind of useful too.

 

[L-man]

Why do Man City make barely anything in 'Match Day'?

Considerably less than any of the top 6 and on a par with Villa