Celtic FC has seen pre-tax profits surge to £43.9 million in the first half, from £30.3m in the same period last year, mainly as a result of selling seven players.

For the six months ended 31 December 2024 revenue fell to £83.5m (2023: £85.2m) and the profit from trading was down to £26.9m (2023: profit of £32.0m).

Profit from trading has also fallen by a further £5.1m because of higher labour costs, the full year effect of higher utility contracts entered into in the prior year and significant stadium preventative maintenance spending.

The exit in the trading period of seven players – Matt O’Riley, Bosun Lawal, Tomoki Iwata, Michael Johnston, Yuki Kobayashi, Daniel Kelly and Hyeongyu Oh – raised £21.5m, compared with player gains of just £2.6m in the previous year.

Chairman Peter Lawwell said: “It is important to note with respect to cash and cash equivalents, that over the last six months, despite significant profitability from player trading and a successful Champions League campaign, we saw a £11.8m reduction in cash reserves from £77.2m at 30 June 2024 to £65.4m at 31 December 2024 (31 December 2023: £67.3m).

“The key drivers of this were the significant transfer spend incurred in the period, where we exceeded our record transfer spend twice, and the investment into the first team playing squad wage costs, and our continued investment into infrastructure including our Barrowfield development, Lennoxtown and Celtic Park.

“During the January 2025 transfer window, we acquired the permanent registration of Jota and the temporary registration of Jeffrey Schlupp.

“In addition, we extended the contract of Kasper Schmeichel and entered into a pre contract agreement that will see Keiran Tierney return to Celtic in July 2025. We disposed of the registrations of Kyogo Furuhashi, Alexander Bernabei and placed Luis Palma, Odin Holm and Stephen Welsh on Loan.

“Our commitment as always is to invest in continuous improvement in all areas of the club and, most importantly, in the first team squad. The success of our model has ensured that funding is available to acquire players who will contribute to ongoing success.

“We invested significantly in the summer transfer window and while we aimed to do more in the recent window, we go into the remainder of the season from a strong position and with confidence.”

Mr Lawwell explained that the Club’s earnings profile and cash generation from trading is biased toward the first half of the financial year and it “naturally” expects a seasonal downturn in earnings in the second half of the year.

This reflects the fact that receipts from European competition are largely recognised in the first half of the year, whereas the second half does not benefit from this.

In addition, strong player trading gains in August 2024 were not replicated in January 2025.  

“This seasonal profiling is entirely within expectations and our planning assumptions,” said Mr Lawwell. “Our outturn earnings can also be materially impacted by football success and the year-end assessment of player registration carrying values.

“Taking all of this into consideration, we would expect our total outturn financial performance for the year ending 30 June 2025 to be significantly lower than the result posted for the first six months of the financial year.”