Aberdeen report annual loss despite record turnover

Aberdeen have reported a loss of £880,000 despite bringing in a record amount of money in the last financial year.

The Scottish Premiership club earned £23.6m for the year to the end of June 2024, nearly £8m more than the previous 12 months.

That increase, the club says, is largely down their involvement in the group stage of the Uefa Conference League which increased prize money, gate receipts, and commercial income.

However, a fall of £6m from the sale of players meant the club went from recording a profit of over £1m to a loss.

The current accounts include the sale of midfielder Ylber Ramadani to Lecce but not the record fee received striker Bojan Miovski to Girona a year later, which will be included in next year’s numbers.

Aberdeen spent £12.7m on wages, an increase of around £800,000.

“While the increase in turnover is largely due to European group stage football, together with domestic cup runs, it has been bolstered by significant increases in retail and commercial income streams,” chairman Dave Cormack said.

“A key criteria of a well-run, financially sustainable club is the wages to turnover ratio, and, during this period, we are sitting at a very healthy 54%.

“Our player trading model, where we need to carefully balance significant additional investment in football wages and transfer fees against income from player sales, continues to show positive momentum.

“But, due to the cyclical nature of player sales, the recent real gains will only be reflected in next year’s results.”

The figures include a period where Aberdeen’s men’s side finished seventh in the Scottish Premiership and reached the final of the League Cup, semi-finals of the Scottish Cup, and ended third in their Conference League section.

Barry Robson started the season as manager but was sacked in January before Peter Leven saw out the campaign when initial replacement Neil Warnock resigned in March after two wins in eight games.

Swedish boss Jimmy Thelin took over in the summer and Aberdeen are currently second in the Premiership, level on points with Celtic after 10 wins and a draw in their opening 11 games.

Their early season success has meant consecutive sell-outs at Pittodrie.