A Look At New Juventus Financial Report Which Sets Serie A Record For Losses

Juventus have not had too much to celebrate on the pitch so far this season, and now the true extent of their off-field losses has been made public too. Indeed, while Max Allegri’s team have won just two of their nine matches in 2022/23, that pales in significance when compared to the consolidated financial statement the club published earlier this week.

That report – available on the official Juventus website – covers the 2021/22 period, and reveals losses of €254 million ($246.1m). That is the largest deficit ever recorded by a Serie A side, surpassing their own total of €209.9 million ($246.2 million) for the previous year and Inter’s league record of €245.6m ($283m).

It is also the fifth consecutive year in which the Bianconeri have posted a loss, and the statement gave some explanation for the dire situation, including the Covid-19 pandemic and the subsequent lockdown restrictions.

“For a correct interpretation of the figures, it should first be noted that the 2021/2022 financial year was once again significantly penalised – as were all companies in the sector and many other industries – by the persisting of the health emergency linked to the Covid-19 pandemic and the consequent restrictive measures imposed by the Authorities,” it noted.

“The pandemic significantly affected – both directly and indirectly – revenues from ticket sale, revenues from the sale of products and licences and revenues from players’ registration rights, with an inevitable negative impact of both an economic and financial nature.”

It went on to discuss reasons for the heavy losses, among the most notable of which was how stadium restrictions impacted their match-day revenues during the 2021/22 campaign.

That was clearly the case, particularly when Serie A enforced strict attendance limits as the Omnicron variant reached its peak in Italy during the winter months, having knock-on effects for Juve in terms of both gate receipts and merchandise sales.

Furthermore, after the club was knocked out of the UEFAEFA
Champions League in the round of 16 by Villarreal, a reduced number of fixtures in that competition had a negative impact on television rights and media revenue.

Those factors have all combined to mean that Juventus have recorded losses of around €534 million ($517.45m) over the past three years combined, yet – thanks to strong financial backing from the board of directors – they’ve still managed to keep afloat.

Indeed, as La Gazzetta dello Sport reported earlier this week, they made a €300 million ($290.7m) recapitalisation at the end of 2019, while a further financial injection came in December of last year.

That saw a further €400 million ($387.6m) pumped in in order to restore the assets – which stood at €169 million ($163.76m) as of June 2022 – and reduce the debts. In fact, the careful management of the club has seen those debts reduced from €464 million ($449.62m) back in 2019 to just €153 million ($148.26m) net as of June 2022.

Those figures have to be seen as positive, and the report once again noted the three-year plan which has been approved by the board. According to the latest statement, that will see Juventus working towards the following objectives;

• Maintaining sports competitiveness.
• Medium/long-term economic and financial balance.
• Excellence in operations, with an increase in Juventus brand visibility in international markets.
• Reinforced integration of the ESG topics in the business model.
• Taking an active role in the reform and in the sustainable and inclusive evolution process of the sport industry.

Finally, in concluding its business outlook, Juventus stated that “the economic result and the operating cash-flow for the 2022/2023 financial year – albeit influenced by the unfavourable economic, financial and political context – are expected to significantly improve compared to those for the 2021/2022 financial year, still significantly penalised by the direct and indirect effects of the Covid-19 pandemic.”

“As usual, the current financial year’s economic, equity and financial performance will be influenced by the performance of sports results – in particular, the UEFA Champions League – and by the second phases of the 2022/2023 Transfer Campaign.”

So, in admitting that their financial outlook is still largely dictated by on-field performance in the Champions League, it will be very interesting to see how Max Allegri – whose future was discussed at length in this previous column – fares over the remaining games in the Group Stage.

By the time the season breaks for the FIFA World Cup, those four matches will have been played and Juventus will know their fate. Will the Coach know his?