AFC Bournemouth’s 2024/25 accounts covered a season when they finished ninth in the Premier League, which equalled their best ever result in 2016/17, but they improved on Eddie Howe’s team by achieving a record tally of 56 points.
The Cherries also reached the quarter-finals of the FA Cup, while playing some excellent football under highly regarded head coach Andoni Iraola.
It’s strange to think that as recently as 2008/09 Bournemouth finished 21st in League Two, when they were deducted 17 points for leaving administration without a Company Voluntary Agreement.
However, the trend is very much their friend, as the club has made steady progress since then. In fact, this season is their ninth in England’s top flight, in 11 years, while they have improved three years in a row since promotion from the Championship in 2021/22, coming 15th, 12th and 9th.
Much of the recent improvement can be attributed to owner Bill Foley of Black Knight Football and Entertainment, who paid £120m for Maxim Demin’s 100% stake in Bournemouth in December 2022 to end the Russian’s 11 years tenure.
Foley already had experience in running a sports club, as he also owns the Vegas Golden Knights, a successful NHL franchise.
The American billionaire is clearly a very ambitious individual. On his arrival, he stated, “I certainly think we can be in Europe within five years.” At the time, that seemed like wishful thinking, but it does not seem to be out of the question these days.
The club itself mentioned a more down-to-earth objective, “Our focus was on improving football performance in the Premier League, while ensuring that the business was on a stable financial footing.”
This is particularly challenging for a club like Bournemouth, which has the smallest stadium in the Premier League (by far), so the question is how have they succeeded where so many others have failed?
Let’s try to answer that by looking at the latest accounts.
Bournemouth’s results off the pitch were also excellent, as they swung from a £66m pre-tax loss to a £15m profit, a significant improvement of £81m in the bottom line, mainly due to profit from player sales increasing from just £251k to £91m.
Revenue rose £21m (13%) from £161m to a club record £182m, while other operating income almost doubled from £9m to £17m.
However, this was more than offset by steep growth in operating expenses, which shot up £36m (16%) from £226m to £262m. in addition, net interest payable was up from £10.6m to £13.4m.
The main driver of Bournemouth’s revenue growth was broadcasting, which rose £12m (9%) from £136m to £148m. There was also a significant increase in commercial, which was up £8m (45%) from £19m to £27m, while match day was slightly higher, rising from £6.5m to £6.7m.
All three revenue streams set new club highs for the second year in a row.
Bournemouth continued to invest in the squad to boost their chances of surviving (and thriving) in the Premier League, so wages climbed £22m (16%) from £136m to £158m, while player amortisation increased £7m (12%) from £62m to £69m. Other expenses also grew £6m (23%) from £25m to £31m.
Bournemouth’s £14.9m profit is the second best result in the Premier League to date in 2024/25, just behind Liverpool’s £15.2m. They are the only two clubs that managed to make money last season.