The return of the public to the stadiums has not only been good for the players. OL Groupe, the holding company overseeing the Olympique Lyonnais football club, also took advantage of this long-awaited return. It allowed him to garner 14.1 million euros in ticket sales in the first half (July-December), a far cry, however, from the 1.9 million a year ago, when spectators were absent subscribers due to health restrictions. Merchandise sales followed a similar trajectory. Beyond ticketing revenue, the event part, which includes seminars and concerts, experienced a net rebound, generating 3.8 million billings, against only 0.4 million last year.
” The resumption of this activity is particularly encouraging with a record number of seminars organized in the first half – 266 – despite a large number of cancellations in December due to the fifth wave of Covid “Says OL Groupe, which hosted its first major event on September 7 since the start of the pandemic with the France-Finland match. Income from partnerships increased by 6% to 17.4 million euros, while TV rights fell by 31% to 30.5 million euros, the club not having participated in the Champions League this year. Especially followed closely, the sale of player contracts made it possible to collect 41.2 million euros. This is 23% less than a year ago, but the performance is satisfactory given the context of the pandemic. The various operations of the transfer window bring the value of the male professional workforce to 324 million euros, according to Transfermarkt.
End of gauges
” Thanks to the resumption of activities and state aid, the gross operating surplus is positive again and stands at 14.7 million euros at December 31 “, underlined the management. This indicator marks a marked improvement compared to the loss of 9.3 million collected at December 31, 2020. The operating result, although still negative, is still improving and stands at -20.2 million euros, against -43.4 million a year earlier. The group wants to believe that the page of the crisis is turned. February 2 marked the end of the game for the gauges, giving hope for a gradual return to normal for public events.
In the second half of 2021-2022, Groupama Stadium will host the Soprano and Indochine concerts. In terms of sport, in taking into account the rise in the Ligue 1 ranking to date (seventh against thirteenth as of December 31, 2021), the impact on TV rights and partnership income is estimated at €3.2 million, add the holding. In addition, the impact of player trading carried out during the winter transfer window, in January 2022, is estimated at 43.4 million euros on proceeds from player sales and 25.9 million on EBITDA. “.
Towards a strengthening of equity
As a result of the losses, shareholders’ equity fell to 94.3 million euros, while net debt, at 316.7 million, remained at a historically high level. OL Groupe will not cut it: it will have to strengthen its balance sheet. ” Several scenarios are possible, in particular less than a year and a half before the conversion deadline for the OSRANES held by ICMI, Pathé and IDG “, indicated this morning the analyst of the cabinet Oddo BHF. The group is also working to refinance over the long term all or part of the two loans guaranteed by the State for an amount of 169 million euros.
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