By David Owen
January 18 – Brentford, the West London club whose finances have been transformed by promotion to the top tier for the first time since 1946-47, have produced figures for the year to end-June 2021, their promotion season.
The pre-tax loss was £8.5 million, very much on the low side for a Championship promotion side. This was almost entirely down to player trading: the sales of striker Ollie Watkins to Aston Villa and Saïd Benrahma to West Ham were the main factors in a £44.3 million player-trading profit. Quite unusually, the club also realised more in cash terms from player sales in 2020-21 than it spent on incoming transfers. The cash flow statement puts this surplus at more than £7 million for each of the past two seasons.
The operating loss before player trading was £53.1 million. Turnover attained a record £15.3 million, but with the club enjoying its most successful spell on the field since the 1930s, this will of course be dwarfed by a 2021-22 total, swollen by Premier League TV revenues.
Wages increased quite steeply from £25.9 million to £41.4 million, but this was predominantly a consequence of almost £12 million in promotion payments. The club said it would have been in profit to the tune of £3.5 million were it not for these payments.
Notes to the accounts reveal that the club has executed a £20 million overdraft facility with Barclays, to “fund any monthly cash shortfalls in the 2021-22 season”. It said its cashflow projections indicated that this facility was “not required beyond January 2022, the typical cash low point in the season for football clubs”. Nevertheless, it would be available until at least August 2022.
Controlling party Matthew Benham’s total investment in the group on 30 June 2021, was put at £104.1 million in equity and loans. The accounts indicate that his loans to Brentford FC and Lionel Road Developments amounted to £65.5 million. No interest had been charged “in the current or previous years”.
Also mentioned is a loan of £4.9 million from FC Midtjylland, a Danish club in which Benham is a majority shareholder. This loan is said to be repayable on demand and interest-bearing at a rate of 1% per annum. One would probably expect Brentford to have since paid this money back out of its new Premier League revenue bounty.
The year was also momentous for bringing a move out of Griffin Park, where the club had played since 1904. The new Brentford Community Stadium opened on 1 September 2020. This was reflected in a jump in tangible fixed assets on the consolidated balance-sheet from £60 million to just over £76.5 million.
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