828 million euro budget for 2020/21 season

The FC Barcelona Board of Directors has reached the following agreements ​​at its ordinary session held this Monday:

Approval of the budget for the 2020/21 season

The Board of Directors has approved the budget for the 2020/21 season, which is pending definitive validation by the next Assembly of Delegate Members, as soon as it can be held in compliance with the established health measures.

The Board has approved a 2020/21 budget that presents operating income of 828 million euros (231 million less than expected for the 2019/20 season without a pandemic) and operating expenses of 796 million euros (233 million less than the amount forecast for the 2019/20 season without a pandemic). Taking into account financial expenses and taxes, this leaves the budget with a final profit of 1 million euros, with an expected associated EBITDA of 231 million euros.

The Board of Directors emphasises the fact that the drop in income is expected to be even greater than that experienced during the 2019/20 financial year, and that it has therefore had to set up a series of internal procedures designed to adapt the costs to these new circumstances, the ultimate goal being to ensure fulfilment of the budget, and to maintain the club's capital balance.

The Board of Directors has also analysed the different assumptions included in this budget, some of which are already being worked on internally, as they depend on direct management at the executive level, while certain others depend on the social and health circumstances arising from the pandemic.

With regard to this second block, it should be noted that the 2020/21 budget includes the assumption that the stadium and other facilties will be able to reopen in February 2021, with 25% capacity attendance, which is expected to be raised to 50% from May 2021. However, the Board wieshes to make it clear that unfortunately matters are not clear enough to be able to tell whether this will be the actual scenario. However, after joint analysis between different areas of the club, this is viewed to be a plausible scenario from among the different hypotheses raised.

Barça Corporate: proposals for investment in strategic projects

The Board of Directors has been informed of offers from various companies to participate as strategic partners in four of the club's corporate programs: Barça Studios, BLM, BIHUB and Barça Academies. These four units all arose from the 2015 Strategic Plan, which established a policy of income diversification with the aim of making Barça the first club in the world to reach 1 billion euros in turnover.

Given that in the 2019/20 and 2020/21 seasons the growth of the four business areas has been limited due to the financial tension caused by the global Covid-19 pandemic, and hence the impossibility of nurturing them with the sufficient investment or resources to ensure their growth as originally planned, the club considered the idea of seeking a strategic partner as part of its Barça Corporate program.

The aim of the program is to source a strategic partner that can provide enough financial muscle to, on the one hand, achieve the value generated during the five previous years and reinvest that value in the club, and on the other hand, provide the business with the financial and human resources required to achieve the goals set in relation to revenue, international expansion and brand development

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