Bristol City Finances 2023/24

And The Beat Goes On

Bristol City’s 2023/24 accounts cover a season when they finished 11th in the Championship, an improvement of three places over 2022/23 and the club’s best performance for five seasons.

However, the board acknowledged that this campaign was still below its aspirations, “Once again, the club found itself hovering around mid-table for the majority of the campaign and whilst there was little threat of relegation, there was not much excitement generated for a promotion push either.”

This season will be City’s 10th in a row in the Championship. During this time, they have not finished higher than 8th, so have missed out on the play-offs every season. On the other hand, they have now improved their league position three years in a row.

On balance, the board decided to relieve Nigel Pearson of his role as manager in October, replaced by Oxford United’s head coach Liam Manning the following month.

In addition, there was a change at the top off the pitch, as chief executive Phil Alexander left in September 2023, with the club introducing a new management structure.

Profit/(Loss) 2023/24

Despite this upheaval, Bristol City’s pre-tax loss was slashed from £22.2m to £3.3m, mainly thanks to profit from player sales more than doubling from £9.5m to £21.7m, though revenue also rose £5.8m (16%) from £36.6m to a club record £42.4m.

Operating expenses were more-or-less unchanged at £64.9m, while net interest payable fell £0.4m (12%) to £2.7m.

13th Month Impact

The improvement in the bottom line was obviously good news, though it was partly due to the previous reporting period covering 13 months, after the club changed its year-end from May to June, which means that the prior year figures are not directly comparable.

This decision was taken “to better align with the financial reporting dates adhered to by the English Football League and the wider Bristol Sport Group”.

In financial terms, there was little impact on revenue, as there were no matches played in June, but the change resulted in an additional month of expenses in 2022/23.

On a simple pro-rate basis, this would mean that costs were around £5.3m higher in the prior year’s published accounts. If this timing impact were to be excluded, the underlying loss in 2022/23 would be £16.9m instead of the reported £22.2m.

However, even based on the smaller underlying loss, there would still have been a year-on-year improvement of £13.6m (instead of the reported £18.9m).

The main driver of the higher revenue was commercial, which rose £3.5m (17% ) from £21.4m to £24.9m, but there was also decent growth in match day, up £1.4m (23%) from £6.3m to £7.7m, and broadcasting, up £0.8m (9%) from £8.9m to £9.7m.

In fact, the club set new records in all three revenue streams.

Partly due to the 13th month effect, the wage bill decreased £1.1m (3%) from £36.0m to £34.9m, player amortisation more than halved from £6.8m to £3.2m and depreciation fell £0.4m (11%) from £3.6m to £3.2m.

In contrast, other expenses increased by a quarter (£4.7m) from £18.8m to £23.5m.