West Ham Finances 2022/23

Better Things

West Ham’s 2022/23 accounts covered an “unforgettable” season, as they won their first trophy in 43 years with victory in the Europa Conference League final against Fiorentina. The club said that this triumph “more than compensated for a challenging Premier League campaign” when they dropped from 7th to 14th place.

In addition, they reached the fifth round of the FA Cup, but were immediately eliminated in the third round of the Carabao Cup.

Profit/(Loss) 2022/23

Despite winning some silverware, West Ham swung from a £12m pre-tax profit to an £18m loss, as revenue fell £16m (6%) from club record £253m to £237m, partly offset by profit from player sales rising from less than £1m to £17m.

Operating expenses rose £20m (8%) to £256m, while net interest payable more than doubled from £8m to £18m.

The loss after tax was a little smaller at £17m, thanks to a £1m tax credit.

The main reason for the revenue decrease was broadcasting, which fell £16m (10%) from £164m to £148m, due to less money in the Europa Conference compared to the Europa League, exacerbated by the lower Premier League finish.

Commercial and match day were largely unchanged at £48m and £41m respectively, as was other operating income at £2.5m.

West Ham’s operating costs also hardly moved with the exception of player amortisation, which shot up by around a third from £49m to £65m. There were small increases in wages, up £1m to £137m, and other expenses, up £2m to £47m. In addition, the exceptional charge for the stadium lease penalty clause was £1m higher at £4m.

Net interest payable rose £11m to £18m, entirely due to a technical booking for implied interest on transfer fees payable, though it should be noted that this is not a cash payment.

Only three Premier League clubs have so far published accounts for 2022/23, so the comparison with others is based on the latest available figures from the 2021/22 season.

However, we can say that West Ham’s £18m loss is not too bad. Although a few clubs have managed to generate a profit, most notably Manchester City with £80m, many clubs posted much larger losses in 2021/22, e.g. Chelsea £121m, Leicester City £92m and Newcastle United £73m.

West Ham’s loss would have been larger without £17m profit from player sales, which was £16m higher than the prior year. This was very largely due to the sale of Issa Diop to Fulham, though they also made money from Craig Dawson’s transfer to Wolves.