Everton report another astronomical loss

Everton have announced a hefty losses of close to £140m, a pretty horrific number made worse because of the coronavirus pandemic.

The Toffees’ latest accounts show a loss of £139.9m, compared to £111.8m in 2018/19. The club say £67.3m of that figure is due to the loss of broadcasting, commercial and matchday revenues due to the pandemic, as well as other costs directly attributable to it.

£133m was spent on new players, including the likes of Andre Gomes, Jean-Phillipe Gbamin and Moise Kean, with a further £70m spent this summer.

There is also close to £20m spent on planning for the new stadium that cannot be capitalised onto the balance sheet until planning permission has been granted

The accounts once again highlight the continued reliance on majority shareholder Farhad Moshiri, who has now pumped £350m into the Toffees, with a further £50m to be shown in the 2019-20 accounts.

The one positive was another increase in commercial income, with sponsorship, advertising and merchandising revenue more than doubling to £64m compared to £29m the previous year.

Everton chief executive Denise Barrett-Baxendale, said:

“Clearly this has been a very challenging year, not least from a financial perspective with the impact of Covid-19 having a profound, wide-reaching and material impact on our figures. Prior to the pandemic, we were forecasting record revenues in excess of £200m. Our final accounts show that a significant proportion of our losses have been directly attributable to the pandemic.

“However, in this period, it is encouraging that our commercial performance has improved markedly, and this will continue to be a priority moving forward.

“We have also continued our investment into both our new stadium project – which continues to progress in line with our project plan - and, importantly, in strengthening our management and playing staff through the arrival of Carlo Ancelotti and some key additions to our first-team squad. These strategically important projects have been enabled by our Majority Shareholder, who has further underlined his commitment with additional investment into the Club, in 2019/20 and into this financial year”

With Financial Fair Play rules likely to be relaxed after the COVID pandemic, this might be the best time for the Blues to announce these losses and have them swept under the carpet if you will to avoid any punishment.