Celtic financial results show impact of coronavirus on club

Celtic chairman Ian Bankier says the club must proceed and invest with a degree of caution after their latest financial results revealed the impact coronavirus has has on the club.

For the year ending June 30, pre-tax profits fell to £100,000 from £11.2m the previous year.

Revenue dropped by 15.8% to £70.2m from £83.4m while operating expenses including wages fell 7.3% to £80.5m.

Celtic still have around £18m in the bank and revealed that they had increased their borrowing ability to £13m, which remains unused.

Bankier said the pandemic and subsequent shutdown of football had unsurprisingly had “an adverse impact on operations and the balance sheet”.

He said the plunge in profits was “largely attributable to the value destructive impact” of the virus but said that: “Nevertheless, these results are satisfactory in the circumstances at hand.”

The club chairman said that Celtic’s strong financial position before the pandemic had offered “a degree of protection” but also warned that given the inherent uncertainty of the current environment, we must proceed and invest with a degree of caution.

Though Celtic took in £24.2m over the financial year from player sales, the club spent £20.7m.

Celtic chief executive Peter Lawwell added to Bankier’s warnings.

He wrote: “The year ahead is unpredictable and Celtic are not immune to the extent of the challenges that we could face at many levels. Whilst we will continue to invest and not deviate from our strategy, we are also cognisant that we may have to endure the Covid-19 restrictions for longer than we would all hope and therefore must balance our desire to progress the club against long-term sustainability.

“The transfer market is likely to be unpredictable as clubs around Europe struggle to adapt and many of the key stakeholders in European football are expected to be inward facing and adopting defensive strategies.

“It is important that Celtic’s interests and that of Scotland’s are represented within European football and through my role at the European Club Association, I will continue to promote these interests.”