The FA Group has announced record turnover of £332 million and a profit after tax of £5 million, which will be reinvested back into the game, in its latest accounts, for the year ended 31 July 2014.
Investments into the game during the season were also a record high, at £115 million.
The FA Group remains in a strong financial position and The FA Board are pleased with another positive set of results. The Group is well placed to continue to deliver significant investments into football.
The results are comprised of a consolidation of The FA Limited, Wembley National Stadium Limited, the National Football Centre Limited and FA Learning Limited. During 2012/13, the year end was changed to 31 July, to align the financial year with the football season.
This resulted in a short period of account for the seven months to 31 July 2013. For the purposes of reporting the financial performance, the results for the 12 months ended 31 July 2013 have been used as the comparative period.
Turnover increased by £33 million in the year, driven primarily by the additional England internationals played at Wembley as part of the 150th year celebrations and in preparation for the 2014 World Cup. This led to an increase in broadcasting revenues as well as matchday revenues. Income from the World Cup in Brazil also contributed £6m.
Broadcasting rights continue to be the largest single revenue source for the Group, generating £111 million to the Group’s turnover in the year. This predominantly comprises the rights sold for England matches and coverage of The FA Cup.
Investments into the game increased by £7 million to £115 million, with the increase in the year due to increased investment in areas including coaching and participation, refereeing and women and girls’ football.
The FA’s investment is divided between grassroots football, the professional game as well as some central FA investments.
The FA investments comprise projects that span the whole game including women & girls football, elite disability football, The FA’s Respect programme, FA Learning, medical and exercise science, safeguarding children and talent identification.
The main liabilities on the balance sheet are the bank loans associated with the Stadium funding and the finance lease obligations on the lease and leaseback facility for the hotel at St. George’s Park. The Group repaid £11m on the loan during the season and continues to make both the mandatory and target repayments.
Looking beyond 2013/14, this season is the first year in which BBC and BT Sport act as The FA Cup broadcasters. It is also the first year in which UEFA centralisation has taken effect for all home qualifiers and the first year of the new agreement with ITV to televise England home friendly internationals.
A number of sponsorship agreements were signed in 2013/14 that take effect this year. This season is the first year of new sponsorship agreements with Vauxhall, Mars, William Hill, Carlsberg and Lucozade as well as the first full season of the stadium’s partnership agreement with EE.
Wembley Stadium will be hosting another entertaining events calendar in 2015. Already lined up is the international friendly between England and France, two Rugby World Cup matches, three NFL games and concerts from Ed Sheeran, Foo Fighters and AC/DC.
