At the same time, the latest accounts show that record revenues do not automatically translate into rising profitability. Compared with 2023/24, group revenue rose from €951.5m to €978.3m, yet pre-tax profit fell from €62.7m to €42.5m and net income from €43.1m to €27.1m.
In the AG's individual accounts, total personnel costs rose from €396.5m to €408.3m; even more striking: depreciation and amortisation increased from €95.1m to €132.3m, including amortisation on transfer fees from €89.2m to €126.4m.
The net margin of 2.8 per cent in the 2024/25 season is wafer-thin. Personnel costs devour roughly 53 per cent of genuine revenue (excluding transfers).
Bottom line: close to a billion euros in revenue, significantly stronger than 2019, the last year before Covid.
A single world-class transfer (Harry Kane: ~€100m) swallows roughly four years' worth of net income.