Hearts F.C annual report year ending June 2024
A fantastic £20m+ in revenue despite no European football, but a deep loss of over £4m, after £5.5m of donations.
Lots of positivity for Hearts in their most recent set of accounts (£20m+ turnover for the 2nd year running, opening of the Tynecastle hotel, fantastic year on the pitch) - but overall a concerning -£4.4m loss, despite nearly £5.5m of donations received.
Summary:
Turnover down slightly from £20.7m to £20.25m (the decrease in no European group stage was offset by the elimination payments for reaching the ECL playoff round + a tremendous growth in other revenue. Nearly 30% rise in commercial activity & nearly 40% rise in sponsorship, thanks to the record breaking new shirt sponsorship deal with Stellar Omada).
Great revenue numbers, that will rise next year due to competing in Conference League phase this year.
Donations to Hearts were down slightly at £5.478m (£1.478m donations from the fans through Foundation of Hearts (FoH) and £6m from James Anderson, although £2m of the £6m is deferred until season 24/25)
The Hearts fans are obviously the key differential for Hearts versus many other teams in Scotland; 3 successive years of sold out season tickets resulted in nearly £6m in gate receipts. This has been rewarded by the club with 3 successive years of price freezes, despite a “substantial” waiting list. The fans have also now donated £16.2m to their club since the inception of FoH - absolutely incredible numbers that they should be commended for.
A closer look at their finances reveals:
Total staff costs rose from £15.4m to £16.5m - which seem high against a revenue of £20.25m.
£1.4m on player purchases (Nieuwenhof, Tagawa, Kent and Vargas) up from £845k the year before.
Overall loss of -£4.44m, which is made up of a -£1.12m loss on ordinary activities, with depreciation, amounts written off & interest payable increasing the loss by a further £3.3m. Last season was a £298k profit.
Hearts have invested well over £20m in their stadium in recent years, which has increased their capacity and resulted in the opening of the 25 bedroom Tynecastle hotel which substantially increases their commercial income
Since the year end, Hearts say they acquired a £7m 10-year term loan facility from a director (this will be James Anderson), with interest to be paid at commercial rates. Part of this loan will be used to repay the loan to Ann Budge by the end of season 24/25 - potentially signaling the end of her time at the club?
HOW BIG IS THE GAP FROM HEARTS TO THE OLD FIRM?
A comparison of all 3 metrics for last season's top three clubs, followed by a look at the 3 metrics for HMFC over the last 10 years.
Clearly Celtic are in the best financial health, they take in around the same in revenue as Rangers, Hearts & Aberdeen COMBINED. They are the only one of last year's top 3 to post a profit, primarily due to the high wage costs/turnover ratios at the other 2: (% of income spent on wages = Celtic 52.6%, Rangers 69.3% & Hearts 81.2%).
Looking at Hearts' Profit/Loss since 2014, (* = championship season) and although the £4.4m loss announced today is concerning, this is not their norm as they have been profitable for the previous 8 seasons, making between £300k-£3m each year. The huge profit figure in 2013/14 is an anomaly after they booked £27.5m debt write-off after going into administration: