Juventus profits up thanks to TV rights payment

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The Serie A club are reaping the benefits of a lucrative TV rights deal signed with Mediaset, announcing a net profit EUR 20.9 million in its second fiscal quarter to 31 December after a EUR 6.8 million loss in the same period a year ago.

The trend produced a positive net result of EUR 8 million before taxes and extraordinary items for the first half of the 2005-06 financial year compared with a loss of EUR 9.1 million in the first half to 31 December 2004. Spurring the net profits was a 63.1 percent increase in revenues, an increase from EUR 58.81 million to EUR 95.91 million. The increase in revenues was due in large part to a EUR 30 million payment from Mediaset, a TV rights deal that was agreed to in December.

The club said in a statement that it had narrowed its player management – the difference in signings, sales and loans of players – from EUR 16.7 million to EUR 14 million in the second quarter from a year ago. There could be even better financial news. “The result of the 2005/06 financial year could be significantly influenced by trends in the current football season, in particular by the results achieved by the first team in the UEFA Champions League,” the statement said. Juventus takes on German Bundesliga club Werder Bremen in the knockout phase of the Champions League later this month.