Real Madrid have announced a record revenue of £561 million for the
2015/16 financial year to become the world’s highest-earning club,
surpassing both Manchester United and Barcelona.
Real’s income has topped €600 million for the first time and sees
them usurp rivals Barca, who posted €679 million revenue for the same
period – although that figure includes player sales, which Los Blancos
and Deloitte don’t factor in.
Barcelona made approximately €67m from selling players in last
season’s financial year, but when that figure is subtracted from their
overall earnings, the Catalan club are edged out by just €8m by their
rivals at €612m to €620m.
Manchester United, meanwhile, recorded profits of approximately
£515.3m for the same period, putting them some £45m behind Zinedine
Zidane’s side. The good news continued elsewhere with Real’s income up
by 7.4%, with their net debt also down €100m as compared to the previous
financial year.
Real Madrid lost out on the league title by a single point to
Barcelona last season, but they beat city rivals Atletico Madrid in the
Champions League final to make it two wins in three years to prove their
might in Europe’s top club competition.
A club statement read: “The operating result before repayments and
player transfers (“recurring EBITDA”) has risen to 163.2 million euros,
which is the highest figure ever reached by the club, representing a
26.3% increase on revenue figures and a rise of 20.9% on the previous
financial year. This improvement in profitability is due to an increase
in revenues having subtracted operating expenses and provisions
corresponding to risks and contingencies.
“A pre-tax profit of 43.3 million euros has been recorded, which is
22.5% less than the previous financial year. This is due to the
non-recurrent effect of player transfers, despite the operating
improvements recorded. After achieving a net profit (after tax) of 30.3
million euros, net worth has risen to 442.2 million euros. The cash
balance has risen by 102.6 million euros to reach a figure of 211.5
million euros, thanks to higher cash flow generated by operations and
restraints on investments.
“As a result of the increase in liquid assets and the reduction of
creditor balances by investments, the net debt has fallen by 108.9
million euros to sit at a figure of -13.1 million euros, which in
reality represents, not a debt but rather a net liquidity
position. Therefore, multiples of debt over EBITDA and net worth has
been reduced to zero, indicating a position of maximum solvency.”
