Arsenal declare £47m in losses as coronavirus pandemic threatens club’s finances even further

The Gunners released their financial results for the last fiscal year but expect the impact of Covid-19 to be worse in the 2020-21 figures

Arsenal have reported a loss for the second financial year in a row, suffering a £47.8 million ($66m) loss in 2019-20.

The latest figures show the club’s financial results until the end of May last year, before the end of the Premier League’s three-month suspension because of the Covid-19 pandemic.

The Gunners declared a £27.1m ($37m) loss for the 2018-19 financial year, the first time the club had a loss since 2002.

How much did Arsenal lose?

The report states that £35m ($48m) of the last year’s pre-tax losses that are attributable to Covid-19 are made up of £14m ($19m) of lost matchday revenues, the deferral of £34m ($47m) of broadcasting revenues into the next financial year and £6m of other commercial and broadcasting revenue losses. 

Those losses are offset by cost savings of £19m ($26m), including the wage reduction scheme that the first-team squad agreed to last year.

However, the Gunners expect the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic to be more evident in next year’s financial report due to the lack of paying spectators and other cutbacks.

How much did they make from player sales and signings?

Arsenal raised £60.1m from player sales, having offloaded Alex Iwobi to Everton and Krystian Bielik to Derby among others. But the club spent £182.2m ($252m) registering new players, including the likes of Nicolas Pepe, Kieran Tierney, William Saliba, Gabriel Martinelli, Pablo Mari and David Luiz.

The Gunners have spent £234.5m ($324m) on wages, a reduction of £400,000 from 2019, and spent £10.4m ($14m) in changing the coaching staff as Unai Emery was sacked in November 2019 and replaced by Mikel Arteta.

Commercial revenue for 2019-20 stands at £142.3m ($197m), an increase from the previous year’s £110.9m ($152m) figure thanks to the renewed partnership with Emirates and a new kit partnership with Adidas. The increase would have been greater had they not been eliminated from the Europa League at the last-32 stage.

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