No more debt but also more income. Eagle Fooball Group (formerly OL Groupe) lost a little more than 25 million euros in 2023-2024, which remains much lower than the 99 million of the previous year.
As announced a few days ago, Eagle Football Group (EFG), which took over the OL Groupe entity in April 2024, revealed its figures for the 2023-2024 financial year. Many tables and data have been communicated, but we must already remember that the company declared a total loss of 25.7 million euros over the past season. An amount which may seem significant, but which is above all down compared to 2022-2023.
Over the previous period, the company posted a net profit of -99 million euros. To explain this balance sheet, we must turn to the income from activities, which for this year are 361.4 million euros, up 25% compared to the 289.7 million recorded on June 30, 2023.
Player payroll falls
Another fact to note, EFG generated a gross operating profit of 44.2 million euros (compared to -1.8 million previously). The surplus is due on the one hand to one-off income (CVC payment, OL women's license, etc.), as well as to the events part (plus 26.7 million compared to 22-2023). The entry into operation of the LDLC Arena on November 23, 2023, which has since been sold, impacted this result.
After the departures recorded in the summer of 2023, the holding company reduced its player payroll by 3.4 million euros, but that of other employees increased by 8.6 million. We can also add that the capital gain from the sale of assets (OL Reign, the Arena and the women's section) amounts to 45.2 million euros. All this brings us to an operating result, the indicator of the company's performance, of 26.5 million euros in June 2024. An increase of 102.9 million compared to last year.
Finally, we note that the financial result, which is the difference between income and expenses, is -35 million euros (compared to -22.8 million in the previous financial year). A total notably justified by EFG by “the overall refinancing of debts carried out in December 2023“.
Eagle's debt increases, equity decreases
Because unsurprisingly, Eagle Football Group is in debt, a net cash debt of 463.8 million euros, up 14.6% compared to June 2023. The company has a total debt of 505.1 million euros. euros, which includes several things, including current debts of 161.7 million euros (+61 million in one year). Let us also remember that the fixed assets, the “durable” property of the entity, went from a value of 555.2 million euros to 450.2 million.
Another black point, shareholders' equity, which is all of the company's resources, reflecting its financial value, fell by 62.9% to reach 39.4 million euros. A result impacted, among other things, by the share buybacks at Holnest (-30.7 million) and by the repayment of bonds carried out as part of the December 2023 refinancing (-10.5 million).
Player sales and capital contributions
Regarding future prospects, EFG confirmed that it was considering a plan to rationalize its operating costs which could lead to voluntary departures. Finally, various strategies to improve the financial health of the group were put on the table, some of which are already known:
- A contribution of 75 million euros in the form of equity and/or the sale of players (from all Eagle clubs) by December 2024.
- An additional 40 million injected by Eagle Football Holdings (EFH) following the planned sale of its Crystal Palace stake.
- Contribution of a maximum amount of 100 million euros at the start of 2025 from EFH as part of its IPO project in New York
- The sale of footballers during the January 2025 transfer window
Eagle Football Group believes it is likely that “all or part of these financing operations are completed“, but otherwise, or if a significant delay occurs, this “could call into question the principle of continuity of operation of the company and its subsidiaries.“In other words, in the event of an event temporarily interrupting the normal course of activities, the organization would be forced to put an end to its activities if the actions planned above do not succeed.
The auditors expressed reservations
Finally, let us specify that the auditors “are considering issuing an impossibility of certifying on the corporate and consolidated accounts of Eagle Football Group.“Which is synonymous with uncertainties and anomalies. In this case, they could not”collect sufficient evidence to decide on the reasonableness of the different hypotheses“mentioned above.
