Celtic post huge profit and reveal current bank balance as Peter Lawwell issues statement

Celtic have underlined their financial might within Scottish football by posting a £43.9million pre-tax profit for the six months to December 31, 2024.

The Parkhead side released their interim accounts on Monday evening, which showed that the level of profit increased by more than £13million compared to the same period the previous year.

The club also has £65.4m in the bank compared to £77.2m on June 30, 2024 - an £11.8m drop which has been attributed to twice breaking their transfer record in the summer with the signings of Adam Idah and Arne Engels.

Celtic spent a total of £28.1m on transfer fees while making a £21.5m profit from player sales thanks in the main to Matt O’Riley's £25 million move to Brighton and further boosted by the departures of Bosun Lawal, Tomoki Iwata, Michael Johnston, Yuki Kobayashi, Daniel Kelly and Hyeongyu Oh.

Revenue reduced by 2.1 per cent to £83.5m, due to a reduction in the amount made per match, which the club say will reverse in the second half of the financial year, as well as the deferral of some UEFA payments.

Celtic chairman Peter Lawwell. (Photo by Craig Williamson / SNS Group) | SNS Group

Chairman Peter Lawwell said: "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,

"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 Keiran Tierney return to Celtic in July 2025. We disposed of the registrations of Kyogo Furuhashi, Alexander 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.

“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."