Peter Lawwell's Celtic accounts address in full - January confession, £12m profit spike and £1.7m revenue quirk explained
Peter Lawwell has delivered a full rundown of Celtic's latest financial results.
The chief executive has spoken out after the Hoops announced a pre tax profit of £43.9million - a figure that has risen almost £12m from this time last year. It's been a successful six month period for the club on the pitch with the Scottish Premiership title and Scottish Cup in the trophy cabinet at Parkhead while they also qualified for the Champions League main event once gain in the newly revamped league phase.
Celtic face giants Bayern Munich this week in the first-leg of their knockout round tie at Europe's top table after a top performance from Brendan Rodgers' men which ended with them finishing 21st and qualifying for a crack at Europe's heavyweights.
READ MORE: Celtic post eyewatering £44m profit with £65m left in bank despite breaking transfer record TWICE
That has been aided by the club smashing their transfer record TWICE over the summer on Adam Idah and Arne Engels and investment into the first team wages. During the winter window Jota also arrived back to the club on a permanent deal while Kyogo Furuashi was sold for £10m to Rennes and Kieran Tierney's pre-contract was revealed as part of a busy month of activity in Glasgow's east end.
Lawwell conceded that the champions 'aimed to do more in the recent window' with Jeffrey Schlupp the only incoming on deadline day alongside the return of Jota earlier in the month but he stated that the club 'go into the remainder of the season from a strong position and with confidence.'
A statement on the Celtic website reads: "The results for the six months ended 31 December 2024 show revenues of £83.5m (2023: £85.2m) and a profit from trading, representing the profit excluding other income and player related gains and charges, totalling £26.9m (2023: profit of £32.0m). The profit before finance income & expense and taxation (“PBIT”) amounted to £43.9m (2023: £30.3m).
"Although reported revenue has fallen by £1.7m (or 2.1%), and the total matches played over the period of 14 was in line with the same period last year, the match composition varied from the prior period and consequently, this impacted the amount recognised per match in the first half of the year. In addition, as the new UEFA format now introduces games in the second half of the financial year, an element of UEFA revenue requires to be deferred and recognised in the second half of the year. Both factors have led to the reduction in reported revenue but will reverse in FY25 H2.
"Profit from trading has reduced £5.1m between the six months ended 31 December 2024 compared to the same period last year due to a number of factors including, higher labour costs, the full year effect of higher utility contracts entered into in the prior year and significant stadium preventative maintenance spending. The increase in the PBIT of £13.6m to £43.9m was mainly driven by the exit of seven players resulting in the net gain on player trading of £21.5m (2023: £2.6m) which included Matt O’Riley, Bosun Lawal, Tomoki Iwata, Michael Johnston, Yuki Kobayashi, Daniel Kelly and Hyeongyu Oh.
"It is important to note with respect to cash and cash equivalents, that over the last six months, despite significant profitability from player trading and a successful Champions League campaign, we saw a £11.8m reduction in cash reserves from £77.2m at 30 June 2024 to £65.4m at 31 December 2024 (31 December 2023: £67.3m).
"The key drivers of this were the significant transfer spend incurred in the period, where we exceeded our record transfer spend twice, and the investment into the first team playing squad wage costs, and our continued investment into infrastructure including our Barrowfield development, Lennoxtown and Celtic Park.
"During the January 2025 transfer window, we acquired the permanent registration of Jota and the temporary registration of Jeffrey Schlupp. In addition, we extended the contract of Kasper Schmeichel and entered into a pre-contract agreement that will see Kieran Tierney return to Celtic in July 2025. We disposed of the registrations of Kyogo Furuhashi, Alexandro Bernabei and placed Luis Palma, Odin Holm and Stephen Welsh on Loan.
"Our commitment as always is to invest in continuous improvement in all areas of the club and, most importantly, in the first team squad. The success of our model has ensured that funding is available to acquire players who will contribute to ongoing success. We invested significantly in the summer transfer window and while we aimed to do more in the recent window, we go into the remainder of the season from a strong position and with confidence.
"At the time of writing, we sit in first position and 13 points ahead in the SPFL and in December 2024 secured a victory over Rangers to win the Premier Sports Cup. We have also progressed to the quarter finals of the Scottish Cup as we aim to retain this trophy for the third consecutive year.
"Following finishing 21st of 36 in the Champions League group phase, we entered the knock-out round of the competition, which sees us drawn against German Bundesliga league leaders and six times European Champions Bayern Munich, in what will be both a challenging and exciting tie.
"Our Women’s team reached its first ever Champions League Group Stage competition where we were drawn against Chelsea, Real Madrid and Twente. This was a challenging group and whilst we were unable to secure a victory in our first venture in the Women’s Champions League, we were proud of the performances, and Elena and the team took much experience from it.
"At the time of writing, our Celtic Women’s team sits joint top with Glasgow City in the SWPL in what is an exciting and highly competitive league. Four teams sit within two points of each other and with 12 games remaining our Women’s team are competing to retain the SWPL title won last season for the first time.
"The club’s earnings profile and cash generation from trading is biased toward the first half of our financial year and we naturally expect a seasonal downturn in earnings in the second half of the year. This reflects the fact that receipts from European competition are largely recognised in the first half of the year, whereas the second half does not benefit from this.
"In addition, strong player trading gains in August 2024 were not replicated in January 2025. This seasonal profiling is entirely within expectations and our planning assumptions. Our outturn earnings can also be materially impacted by football success and the year-end assessment of player registration carrying values. Taking all of this into consideration, we would expect our total outturn financial performance for the year ending 30 June 2025 to be significantly lower than the result posted for the first six months of the financial year.
"I wish to extend our gratitude and appreciation to our supporters for the backing of our club on behalf of the Board. Thanks also must go to our employees, shareholders and commercial partners for their continued support."
