Celtic Finances 2022/23

Pretty Green

Celtic’s 2022/23 accounts cover a season when they retained the Scottish Premiership title and also won the domestic treble under manager Ange Postecoglou. Chief executive Michael Nicholson described this as “a landmark year when the club achieved a world record breaking 8th treble”.

Celtic also qualified for the Champions League group stage for the first time in five years, though they were eliminated early after finishing bottom of the group behind Real Madrid, RB Leipzig and Shakhtar Donetsk.

After the last match of the season Postecoglou left in a blaze of glory after he was poached by Tottenham Hotspur, subsequently replaced by former manager Brendan Rodgers in June.

Profit/(Loss) 2022/23

Celtic’s pre-tax profit surged from £6.1m to £40.7m, a record for Scottish clubs, though chairman Peter Lawwell pointed out that this included “some material items of a one off nature” which amounted to £13.5m. This was thanks to a £10.0m business interruption insurance claim and £3.5m compensation received following Big Ange’s departure.

Revenue rose £31.7m (36%) from £88.2m to £119.9m, another Scottish record, though profit on player sales more than halved from £29.0m to £14.4m. Operating expenses were down £3m (3%) to £108m.

Profit after tax also increased by £27.5m from £5.8m to £33.3m. The year-on-year improvement was smaller than the pre-tax figure, as tax jumped from just £0.3m to £7.4m.

The main reason for Celtic’s revenue increase was participation in the Champions League, as opposed to the prior season’s Europa League. This resulted in healthy growth in both broadcasting, which more than doubled from £13m to £31m, and match day, up £8m (18%) from £43m to £51m.

To complete the “financial treble”, commercial also rose £6m (18%) from £32m to £38m.

Despite the strong trading across all revenue streams, Celtic still managed to contain cost growth. The wage bill only rose £2m (3%) from £59m to £61m, while other expenses were up just £2m (5%) from £30m to £32m.

Player amortisation actually fell £1m (7%) to £12m, while there was no repeat of the previous year’s £6m player impairment. Interest swung from £0.1m payable to £0.6m receivable, due to higher interest rates on bank deposits.

Celtic’s £33m profit after tax is comfortably the best financial result in Scotland. For some perspective, the largest profit made in 2021/22 by another club was just £2m at Hearts, while Rangers actually posted a small loss of £0.9m.