Trust chair Keith Morgan provides a breakdown of the latest Cardiff City accounts for the year ended May 31, 2025.
Introduction
As has been the case for a number of years I have had the opportunity to read, review and comment on the audited accounts on the understanding that the commentary is held under strict embargo until the accounts are formally published on the Companies House register.
It should be stressed that, although the commentary has been discussed with the club at a senior level to check for any factual errors that it might otherwise have contained, it is a report which has been created and the opinions expressed on it are both entirely independent of the club.
The audited accounts were signed off by the independent auditors and the club’s board of directors on January 16, 2026.
Key Matters
The reported operating loss of £28.1m compares to that of £27.7m reported in the previous year. However, the net loss after tax rose very significantly to £35.1m from the far lower figure of £12.0m in the previous year.
The main reason for this is that the 2024 figures included a very large exceptional “one-off” figure of £18.4m which included £12.0m from the sale of a part share of any successful recovery from the ongoing legal case against FC Nantes and £5.7m from a settlement of a contractual dispute. Without those exceptional items, the net loss for 2024 would have been £30.4m.
Clearly, the level of net losses being incurred is not sustainable over time going forward and is a matter of urgency to be dealt with by the club owner and directors.
In the current season some evidence of how this has started to be dealt with is referred to in the accounts with a substantial reduction in squad numbers and consequent reduction in player salary costs. The requirement for this became even more necessary following the clubs relegation from the Championship last season as media and other income dropped by around £10m. Savings to recover some of this lost income were made by relegation clauses included in existing player contracts.
Promotion back to the Championship as soon as possible is therefore a key financial priority as well as a footballing one.
Despite the very negative financial figures there are a few other more positive factors :
1. The club has remained compliant with the EFL Profitability and Sustainability (P&S) requirements whilst a Championship club and remains compliant with the Salary Cap Management Protocol (SCMP ) which is the alternative requirement as a League 1 club.
2.It is hugely important the club continues to receive the financial backing of its majority shareholder Tan Sri Vincent Tan. While he has received a lot of criticism from registered fan groups and individual fans (in many cases justifiably) the unavoidable fact is that, without that financial support, there is a strong likelihood that we fans would not have a club to support at this level as it probably would have “gone bust” without such support.
3. The independent auditors have agreed that the club remains a “going concern” with the above financial support, which has been committed to for at least until January 2027.
Balance Sheet Debts
Total net current liabilities as at May 31, 2025 were £161.5m, a worryingly high figure in normal circumstances.
However, £97m of this is due to Tan Sri Vincent Tan and a further £37.3m due to a business in which club Chair Mehmet Dalman has a significant interest. Other liabilities are relatively small in comparison.
Between the balance sheet date of May 31, 2025 and the date the accounts were signed off £19.1m of new cash was put in to the club as a cash injection, such amounts being neither interest bearing or with any requirement to repay.
Prior Year Adjustments
There are several references in the accounts to adjustments made to the previously reported accounts which were approved at the time by the Independent Auditors.
These are primarily changes to the way some transactions were disclosed which have now been amended by the same audit firm that previously certified them as being correct but have now been adjusted by a different audit partner to the previous ones.
I have no access to correspondence on this but I have a strong personal opinion that the late change of audit partner taking a different view to her predecessors and requiring lots of adjustments to the accounts may well have been a significant factor in the club submitting its accounts slightly late after the December 31, deadline.
Conclusions
The club needs to take urgent and significant action to stem the rate of financial losses being incurred.Promotion back to the Championship is vital financially as well as from a football aspect The ongoing financial support from Tan Sri Vincent Tan is crucial.
And Finally..
Please note: The commentary does not comprise a line by line analysis of the accounts but is intended to cover the key messages.
