The three main income streams of commercial, broadcast and matchday all showed significant year-on-year growth, reflecting City’s continued commercial momentum of recent years, the outcome of the ongoing delivery of a multi-decade strategy.
Revenues rose to £712.8 million, an increase of £99.8 million on the previous 12 months, and profits of £80.4 million, nearly double that of the previous year’s record of £41.7 million.
And Al Mubarak, in his interview on Saturday 1 June, said the money will be reinvested into infrastructure, facilities and players to maintain the progress both on and off the pitch.
“I’m very pleased with the results; these results are very sustainable because we have now a very clear foundation that’s been built over many years,” he said in the second part of his end-of-season interview.
“We have a financial and economic machine. As long as we keep managing well and being prudent, you know that growth in terms of revenue, in terms of profitability, I think we’re on a trajectory that’s been there for years now and continues to go from strength to strength.
“Since day one Sheikh Mansour, as the largest shareholder of the group, has been very focused on growth and value appreciation. And in doing so, every pound of profit has stayed within the group to support growth and development.
“The result of it is we always are investing. We’re always investing in infrastructure. We’re investing in the development of these clubs. We’re buying new teams. We continue to grow and grow.”
That includes continuing to improve the Etihad Stadium with the North Stand development under way.
The CFG were also significant investors in the Co-Op Arena which is set to be an important venue in Manchester.
“It’s part of that strategy of investing in Manchester,” the chairman added. “From continuing to invest in that entire ecosystem, around the Etihad, from the CFA to obviously Manchester Life to now, the Co-Op, the expansion of the Etihad Stadium, that entire entertainment district that we’re developing, we continue to reinvest.
“And what that does we’re creating value for the group. We’re creating jobs for the community.
“We’re creating profit because these are all very successful, initiatives and investments. The Co-Op is, I think, a superb opportunity in which we saw, a very clear demand, for live entertainment, in Manchester and in England.
“We found a great partner. We invested in building, arguably in my opinion, the best arena in the whole of Europe with a state of the art, infrastructure.
“It’s going to transform. There’s no doubt in my mind, life in Manchester by providing an arena with constant entertainment at the highest quality of excellence in terms of delivery for our customers, our clients, our visitors to the arena.
“It’s an absolute game changer in terms of the technology used, in terms of the sound systems that are there, in terms of the entertainment, the facilities within the arena, an absolute game changer for Manchester and for the entire region and frankly for England and Europe.”
