Newcastle's finance supremo Simon Capper has explained why Newcastle effectively sold the club's leasehold to themselves
St James' Park
St James' Park(Image: Getty Images)
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Newcastle United's chief financial officer Simon Capper insists that the decision for the Magpies to sell the leasehold at St James' Park to another company owned by the club was not motivated by the threat of Profit and Sustainability rules.
Unlike Chelsea's decision to sell their Cobham Training Ground to themselves in 2024 to circumnavigate the PSR rulebook, Newcastle say the decision to sell the leasehold to another company they own (PZ Newco Propco 1 Limited) is to raise money to support either an expansion of St James' or a new stadium project.
However, the club escaped major losses after selling St James’ and other assets to a company that is part of its overall operations. The deal is subject to a determination from the Premier League that it meets a fair market value for the ground.
The club has released accounts for last season which show that its revenues rose by £35m on the back of growing commercial operations, including the Stack fan park. But with its wage bill rising significantly and the value of its playing squad going down by nearly £100m, the club benefited from a £128m profit on what is described as “disposal of tangible assets”.
The accounts reveal that a deal was done on June 27 last year to sell and lease back “leasehold improvements” at St James’ Park to a company called PZ Holdings Ltd, whose directors are Newcastle United directors Yasir Al Rumayyan, Abdulmajid Alhagbani and Jamie Reuben.
The club reported a £43.6m operating profit for the year to the end of June 2025, with revenues rising to £355.3m from £320.3m a year earlier. Staff costs increased £24.8m due to an increase of 89 employees across the club plus bonuses for Champions League qualification. Other costs for the club rose £25.4m, mainly due to expenses related to the Stack development.
The income recognised in the accounts from the stadium deal saves the club from a significant loss, which could have put it at risk of breaching Premier League financial rules. Other clubs, including Nottingham Forest and Everton, have been docked points for breaching those rules, but eyebrows have been raised at methods used by other teams to get around the regulations.
However, when asked if United selling the leasehold was to swerve PSR issues, Capper told reporters: "The motivation was very much to reorganise our property assets and get them into the correct legal boxes to allow us to go forward with our potential development, either at St James’ Park or for a new stadium, and to facilitate that with financing and other similar items.
"There may be more similar transactions to come in the future, depending on what we end up doing. But the profit calculation that had to be done is then a consequence of the detail of the accounting rules that the Premier League require us to follow in doing any transaction with a company that is associated with us. So it does create a very significant accounting profit because of that."
A vote last year means that Premier League clubs will no longer be able to sell assets like hotels and women’s teams to themselves to circumvent financial rules. But the new rule, which follows controversial moves by Chelsea to sell a hotel and its women’s team to different parts of its company, does not come into force until next season. Other teams have also sold some of their own assets to themselves.
The accounts say: “On 27 June 2025 the group disposed of leasehold improvements at St James Park to PZ Holdings Ltd, a fellow subsidiary of the immediate parent company PZ Newco Ltd, via a sale and leaseback transaction. The NBV (net book value) of these assets at the date of disposal was £43.2m and the profit on disposal of £129.0m has been recognised in the Consolidated Statement of Comprehensive Income to 30 June 2025.
“The consideration of the transaction is subject to the Premier League’s assessment. The sale agreement contains a clause permitting an adjustment to the consideration receivable in the event that the Premier League’s determination of the fair market value differs from the £172.1m premium which has been recognised based on an independent valuation.”
The accounts also touched on the prospect of a new stadium and new training ground, with CEO David Hopkinson indicating yesterday that updates on both projects were 'not for today' but the annual report read: "The Group is further exploring the options in relation to potential enhancement or expansion of St James' Park or the development of a new stadium.
"Work continues to determine the preferred way forward in relation to the cubs' training infrastructure."
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