Benfica football club posts €31.4 million in losses

Portugal’s Benfica Football Club (Benfica SAD) posted a negative net result of €31.36 million euros in 2023/24, according to economic and financial information reported to the Portuguese Securities Market Commission (CMVM).

Benfica was back in the ‘red’, after profits in 2022/23 (€4.2 million) and 2019/20 (€41.7 million) and losses in 2020/21 (€17.4 million) and 2021/22 (€35 million).

The losses were down to a fall in operational revenues and because of football player rights transactions.

“Balanced accounts could have been easily achieved if market movements had advanced earlier, instead of being postponed until after the European Championship, which would have resulted in a positive result, in line with the first half, reinforcing the robustness of Benfica SAD, whose equity remains high and at an unparalleled level in national football,” reads a communiqué signed by the club’s president Rui Costa.

These revenues totalled €179 million last season, €16 less than in 2022/23, while revenues from player transfers amounted to €256.37 million. Even so, €28.3 less than in the same period last year.

Operational expenses without player rights rose 0.5%, from €206.36 million to €207.3 million, with Benfica SAD explaining that “the increase in external supplies and services was offset by the reduction in personnel expenses”.

Liabilities increased 8.7%, from €444.6 million to €483.4 million, representing 85.5% of assets calculated at €565.2 million, €7.4 million more than in 2022/23 and €157.4 million more than in 2019/20.

Football transfers brought in €58.4 million last season, 8.3% less than in the same period last year, when Benfica earned €63.7 million in the players market. The company’s equity capital fell 27.7%, from €113.2 million to €81.8 million in the period under review.