Liverpool make record kits sales following Nike deal - but club makes £4.8m loss on the year

Liverpool have released their latest financial accounts for the year up to May 31 2021 and have reported overall losses of just £4.8 million.

That’s a £41.5 million reduction in losses since last year’s results despite match-day revenue falling by 95%.

The Reds were hit hard by and empty Anfield, allowed only to host 10,000 fans on the final day against Crystal Palace, with match-day income falling from £70 million to just £3 million.

And despite the massive drop off in match-day income, overall revenue dropped by just £3 million to a total of £487 million - due mostly to an increase in media revenue.

The recent financial updates - released on Friday - included the last nine games of the 2019/2020 Premier League title winning season and the entirety of the season as holders, with all of those final nine games televised.

It meant that media revenue saw a huge rise of £64.5 million to £266.1 million - 55% of the club’s total revenue.

Liverpool also saw a slight rise in commercial revenue from £217.4 million to £217.6 million despite a decrease in retail stores, stadium tours and the museum closing due to the pandemic.

This again is due mainly down to smart commercial work from FSG and co. with deals struck in partnership with Amazon, Expedia and Quorn as well as a reported £70million-a-season kit deal with Nike.

The deal led to record kit sales - estimated to be 2.45 million units by Euromericas Sport Marketing Group - and mobile transactions in the online club store increased by 89% during the reporting period.

The period covers the signings of Thiago Alcantara and Diogo Jota as well as contract renewals for several key players including Trent Alexander-Arnold, Fabinho and Virgil van Dijk.

Andy Hughes, LFC’s managing director, said: “These latest results demonstrate the significant financial impact of the global COVID pandemic, which affected all areas of the business.

“We have worked really hard these past years to get us into a really strong and sustainable financial position. Despite navigating through a very challenging and uncertain period, overall revenue remained flat, demonstrating the underlying financial strength of the business.

“It’s been an unprecedented time on and off the pitch. Our men’s team winning our 19th league title was a truly fantastic achievement, but not having supporters in the stadium to share the moment was not how we wanted it to be. Our women’s team also continues to grow and the hard work and strategic changes to the women’s section is seeing a challenge for promotion to the WSL this season.

“The continued support from our ownership has seen over £130 million invested in infrastructure over the past three years and we are delighted with the great progress being made on the Anfield Road expansion project, which will see the capacity of Anfield rise to 61,000, on completion in 2023.

“It is imperative, however, that we continue to live within our means and operate within football’s regulations and financial fair play. But we’ll continue to reinvest on and off the pitch to further strengthen our position and compete at the highest levels right across the club.

“We are hopefully nearing the end of the pandemic but our priority remains to keep people safe. We’ll also continue to do great work in the community to support those who live in and around Anfield and across the city region, particularly those who have been impacted by the pandemic.”