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Paris Saint-Germain’s 2017/18 financial results cover a season when they won every domestic completion, including Ligue 1 for the 5th time in 6 years, but were eliminated by eventual winners Real Madrid in the Champions League last 16. Some thoughts in the following thread #PSG
#PSG were acquired in 2011 by Qatar Sports Investments (QSI), a subsidiary of Qatar's sovereign wealth fund Qatar Investment Authority (QIA), making the club by far the richest in France and one of the wealthiest in the world. Nasser Al-Khelaifi is the club’s chairman and CEO.
Pre-tax #PSG went from a €19m loss to a €40m profit, a €59m improvement. Revenue (DNCG definition) rose €54m (11%) from €503m to a record high of €557m, while profit on player sales shot up €132m to €145m. This was partially offset by significant cost growth. 
Main driver of #PSG €54m revenue growth was other commercial income, which rose €55m (30%) from €184m to €239m, though sponsors & advertising dipped €12m (8%) from €154m to €142m. Broadcasting was up €6m (5%) to €128m, while gate receipts were €6m (14%) higher at €48m.
However, substantial investment in the squad meant that the #PSG wage bill surged €60m (22%) to €332m and player amortisation rose €29m (25%) to €149m. In addition, other expenses increased €33m (24%) to €173m, while net interest payable was up €4m to €12m.
#PSG were the most profitable club in France with €40m profit before tax, more than twice as much as the closest challenger Angers €17m, followed by Lyon €12m. 15 out of 20 Ligue 1 clubs made a profit, but large losses posted by Lille €142m, Marseille €78m & Bordeaux €21m.
#PSG benefited from €145m profit on player sales, including Moura, Matuidi, Aurier, Pastore & Augustin. Even this impressive figure was dwarfed by Monaco’s extraordinary €316m profit, as they sold many of their title-winning team. Excluding this, PSG loss would have been €106m
#PSG have reported profits in 3 of the last 4 years, aggregating €43m pre-tax in this period, averaging just over €10m profit a season. Before then, they had registered a series of small losses.
Traditionally #PSG have made very little money from player sales. In fact, the 2018 €145m profit is more than twice the previous 9 seasons combined. However, this could become increasingly important to help meet FFP, as seen by last summer’s sales of Guedes, Berchiche & Edouard.
#PSG operating loss (excluding player sales, exceptional items and interest payable) slumped from €29m to €97m. This metric has been steadily declining since the €13m operating profit in 2015.
In fairness, only 3 clubs managed to achieve an operating profit in Ligue 1 – and those profits were very small: Strasbourg €7m, Troyes €1m and Amiens €450k. That said, #PSG €97m operating loss was one of the worst, only surpassed by Monaco €126m and Lille €103m.
#PSG €557m revenue is more than 5 times as much as €101m reported in 2011, i.e. before the QSI acquisition. Majority of the increase has come from commercial €343m, but also good growth in broadcasting €83m & gate receipts €30m. The 2017 decline was due to other commercial.
As a technical note, Deloitte Money League revenue definition (€542m) is different to the one used by the DNCG (organisation responsible for monitoring accounts of football clubs in France), presumably due to the latter’s approach of aggregating #PSG company results for €557m.
Before QSI arrived in 2011, #PSG €101m revenue was a fair bit lower than both Marseille €151m and Lyon €133m, but, following their stratospheric growth to €557m, it is now around €400m more than their closest rivals: Lyon €164m, Marseille €143m and Monaco €124m.
Looked at another way, #PSG alone generated around a third of total revenue in Ligue 1 – as much as the 14 clubs with the lowest revenue combined. Perhaps more tellingly, their revenue was €125m more than Lyon, Marseille and Monaco put together. “Mind the gap” indeed.
Nevertheless, the Ligue 1 domestic TV deal is not great, so #PSG’s €128m broadcasting revenue is only 16th highest of the Money League top 20 clubs, even below West Ham and Newcastle. For some more context, Liverpool and Real Madrid earned around twice as much with €251m.
#PSG earned €57m from Ligue 1 TV deal, ahead of Marseille €52m and Lyon €49m. These are distributed according to the 50-30-20 rule: 50% equal share (30% fixed, 20% according to club licences); 30% league standing (25% current season, 5% 5 previous seasons); 20% media profile.
In 2017/18 #PSG earned €62m for reaching the Champions League last 16, €7m better than the previous season. This was more than the other French clubs: Monaco €47m (CL group stage), Marseille €23m (Europa League runners-up), Nice €20m (CL & EL) and Lyon €12m (EL last 16).
Main driver for the increase in #PSG Champions League revenue was the TV pool, as the other French clubs did worse in 2017/18 (Monaco eliminated in the group stage, Nice lost in the play-offs) compared to 2016/17 (Monaco reached the semi-final, Lyon qualified for group stage).
#PSG have earned almost €300m from Europe in the last 5 years, which is 3rd highest of all clubs, only behind Juventus €406m & Real Madrid €360m. This has helped increase the gap to other French clubs, who have received much less: Monaco €181m, Lyon €113m & Marseille €65m.
Champions League revenue will rise by 54% in 2018/19. There is also a new UEFA coefficient payment (based on performances over 10 years), which will benefit #PSG at the expense of clubs from countries with large TV pools (England and Italy), guaranteeing them €27m.
#PSG gate receipts rose €6m (14%) from €42m to €48m (including €8.5m from the Champions League), as attendance increased from 45,159 to 46,935 with selective price increases in some areas. Overtook Lyon €37m (1st in 2016/17) and generated 25% of all gate receipts in Ligue 1.
Using the Deloitte Money League definition (which includes hospitality), #PSG match day revenue of €101m was the 6th highest in the world, only behind Barcelona €145m, Real Madrid €143m, Manchester United €120m, Arsenal €112m and Bayern Munich €104m.
#PSG average attendance of 46,935 was the highest in France, but only just above Marseille 46,738 & Lyon 46,005. Sizeable revenue difference mainly due to higher prices in Paris, especially corporates. Included a club record 35,700 season ticket holders (up from 8,500 in 2011).
#PSG have by far the highest sponsorship & advertising revenue (€142m) in Ligue1, around €110m more than Lyon €30m and Marseille €29m. This represents around 42% of the total for this revenue stream in the French top flight.
However, that’s nothing compared to other commercial income where #PSG €239m is considerably more than any other Ligue 1 club, the closest being Lyon €32m & Marseille €15m. This is largely due to the hefty agreement with the Qatar Tourist Authority for a "publicity campaign".
#PSG main sponsorship deals have been lagging behind, but recently announced that Accor would be new shirt sponsor from 2019/20 for reported €60m a year, up from Emirates €25m. Long-standing €25m Nike kit deal runs to 2012/22, but club looking to revise significantly upwards.
Following a dip in 2017, #PSG wage bill rose by €60m (22%) from €272m to €332m in 2018, increasing wages to turnover ratio from 54% to 60%, mainly due to arrival of Neymar & Mbappé. Interestingly, revenue and wage growth over last 3 years are almost identical at around €75m.
Similar to revenue, there has been significant wages growth at #PSG since 2011 (around 400%) from €70m to €332m. The gap to their nearest rivals has widened to around €200m with Monaco now in second place with €133m, followed by Marseille €125m and Lyon €115m.
#PSG €332m wage bill represents over a quarter of the entire Ligue1 payroll, i.e. as much as the 13 clubs with the lowest wages. Excluding the top 4, wages at the other clubs lie in a range between €15m (Amiens) and €68m (Lille).
Not only is #PSG’s €332m wage bill the highest in France, but it is the 4th highest in Europe, very close to Manchester United €334m, though a long way below the Spanish giants: Barcelona €487m and Real Madrid €395m.
Despite their huge wage bill #PSG have one of the lowest (best) wages to turnover ratio in Ligue 1 at 60%, only beaten by Strasbourg 46% and Amiens 52%. The worst ratios were registered at Lille 127% and Monaco 107%, while Marseille 88% and Lyon 70% were also quite high.
The other #PSG staff cost, player amortisation (annual charge to write-down transfer fees), also rose significantly by £29m (25%) from €120m to €149m in 2017/18. This expense has shot up from just €14m in 2011 before the Qataris arrived.
Unsurprisingly, #PSG player amortisation of €149m is by far the highest in France, more than twice as much as Monaco €63m, who are in turn around double Marseille €32m.
#PSG transfer activity has obviously massively increased since the QSI investment, averaging €95m net spend in six years up to 2017 (compared to just €6m in preceding two years), but has further ramped up in last two years to €145m, mainly Neymar €222m & Mbappé €145m.
#PSG €457m net spend is by far the highest in Ligue 1 over last 4 seasons. In fact, only 3 other clubs had net spend: Marseille €25m, Strasbourg €4m and Nimes €2m. Monaco and Lyon both had large net sales, €353m and €91m respectively, which makes it difficult to compete.
It’s a similar story with gross spend with #PSG €751m pretty much double Monaco €413m and four times as much as Marseille €197m and Lyon €173m. Put another way, PSG’s outlay is almost as much as their 3 closest rivals combined.
#PSG have no external financial liabilities, but have a €105m shareholder loan, down from €186m the prior season. As cash increased by €50m to €138m, the club moved from €98m net debt to €33m net funds. Net equity improved from €78m to €440m following QSI cash injection.
#PSG €105m debt is only the 4th highest in Ligue 1, behind Monaco €332m (all shareholder loans), Lille €249m and Lyon €231m. The large sums at the latter two clubs (almost 90% of all financial liabilities in the top tier) are mainly driven by investment in new stadia.
In contrast, #PSG’s €192m transfer debt, up from €72m the prior season, is by some distance the highest in Ligue 1, twice as much as Monaco €92m, followed by Lyon €40m. In fairness, PSG are in turn owed €133m by other clubs, so their net transfer debt is “only” €59m.
Obviously, #PSG should have no problems paying their debts, especially with a chunky cash balance of €138m. Stop me if you’ve heard this one before, but this is considerably more than their challengers: Marseille €31m, Monaco €17m and Lyon €9m.
Of course, Financial Fair Play (FFP) has been a thorn in #PSG’s side for a while, being fined €60m Champions League earnings in 2014, when UEFA deemed they had artificially inflated their revenue via their “innovative” use of the Qatar Tourism Authority deal.
Although UEFA said #PSG were within FFP acceptable deviations for the years 2015-17, they have stated that the 2018 accounts “will remain under close scrutiny”, due to the impact of “transfer activities”. Al-Khelaifi told fans, “Don’t worry, because our revenue will increase.”
The chairman said, “#PSG’s winning culture is developing with every passing season.” That is undoubtedly true in France, where they enjoy enormous financial advantages, but the true test remains the Champions League, which is proving to be a tougher nut to crack.
