Spurs break world record for a football club by announcing annual profit of £113m

Tottenham Hotspur posted a world-record annual profit for a football club of £113 million in 2017-18, beating the £106m mark announced by Liverpool for the same season.

The north London club’s bottom line was revealed in an impressive set of accounts yesterday, the morning after they played their first Premier League game at the new, 62,000-capacity Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.

Spurs had spent just over £1 billion on that stadium and their new training ground as of the end of June 2018, nearly half of that amount being spent in the 2017-18 financial year.

Much of that has been financed by secured loans from Bank of America, HSBC, Investec and Goldman Sachs, and Spurs owed a total of £461m at the end of the financial year, although the club have since extended their loan from Bank of America and Goldman Sachs by another £100m.

The huge net profit was based on an underlying operating profit of £157m, more than double the figure for the year before, turnover increasing to £381m, up from £310m.

There are three main factors behind Spurs’ impressive growth: a season of playing at Wembley boosted matchday turnover from £45m to £71m; reaching the knockout stage of the Champions League, worth £53m in prize money; and much-improved commercial income of £109m.

These factors made up for a slight dip in the club’s broadcast revenue, down £2m to £148m, due to finishing third in 2018, as opposed to second in 2017.

Spurs remain sixth in the Premier League’s revenue table behind Manchester United, Manchester City, Liverpool, Chelsea and Arsenal, but the gap to the latter was only £22m last season. Spurs have also managed to double their income since 2014-15.