Barcelona fans worry over Suarez, Messi & Neymar but money men are happy
BARCELONA: Amid all sorts of uncertainties on the pitch, Barcelona have had good news off it.
The Catalan club have announced record revenues of €530m ($720.8m) for the 2013-14 season, with net profits hitting €41m – a mark only surpassed once before.
Barcelona’s profit mark for 2013-14 compares to last season’s positive figure of €32m. The record of €48.8m was set in 2011-12 following losses of €9.3m and €83m in the previous two campaigns.
On the pitch Barcelona have to regroup after losing their Spanish league title, contracting new coach Luis Enrique, signing suspended Uruguay striker Luis Suarez and worrying about the further World Cup hangovers of Lionel Messi and injured Brazilian Neymar.
At least, the financial prospects have brightened.
Finances vice-president Javier Faus said that in the four seasons since the current board came into power in 2010-11 the club has secured an accumulated profit of €113m, an unprecedented mark over four consecutive years.
Barcelona’s revenues surpassed €500m for the first time in 2013-14, with Faus highlighting the importance of the club’s commercial and sponsorship deals in achieving this figure.
Net debt reduction
“We are much stronger and we feel we have a greater presence around the world than we did four years ago,” he said, adding that Barcelona has targeted the Brazilian and Russian markets for future growth in this area. The club is currently without a commercial partner hailing from either of these countries.
Barcelona has also made further inroads into reducing its net debt. Barcelona’s total debt stood at €431m four years ago, but a further €44m was sliced off this figure in 2013-14 meaning that as of June 30, 2014 it sat at €287m.
Barcelona has previously targeted a reduction to €200m by the 2015-16 financial year.
Faus said that Barcelona’s financial development in the past four years can be seen in its rise from 24th to second in Forbes’ rankings of the world most valuable sports clubs. According to the latest figures published earlier this month.
Forbes granted Barcelona a valuation of $3.2bn (€2.35bn), second only to La Liga rival Real Madrid on $3.44bn.
Faus added: “We have grown more than any other club in the world and we are the only club with so much potential to improve our contracts. That will help to reinforce our global presence.”
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