Development of performance indicators

Development of financial performance indicators

In the 2020/2021 financial year, Borussia Dortmund’s financial performance indicators – revenue, consolidated total operating proceeds, result from operating activities (EBIT), operating result (EBITDA), net profit/net loss for the year, cash flows from operating activities and free cash flow – were as follows:

Revenue

Revenue amounted to EUR 334,171 thousand in the reporting period. In its Annual Report as at 30 June 2020, Borussia Dortmund forecast that revenue would decline by approximately 5% for financial year 2020/2021 overall, based on the comparative figure for financial year 2019/2020.

Consolidated total operating proceeds

Consolidated total operating proceeds (total revenue plus gross transfer proceeds generated) amounted to EUR 358,577 thousand in the reporting period.

As at 30 June 2020, Borussia Dortmund had forecast that consolidated total operating proceeds would amount to approximately EUR 388,000 thousand in financial year 2020/2021.

Operating result (EBITDA)

EBITDA amounted to EUR 38,950 thousand in the past financial year; the forecast for the full 2020/2021 financial year in the Annual Report dated 30 June 2020 had projected EBITDA to exceed the result from operating activities (EBIT) by approximately EUR 100,000 thousand.

Result from operating activities (EBIT)

In the past financial year, the result from operating activities amounted to EUR -72,093 thousand and the net loss for the year totalled EUR 72,810 thousand. The report on expected developments dated 30 June 2020 forecast a net loss for the year of between approximately EUR 70,000 thousand and EUR 75,000 thousand. The result from operating activities (EBIT) for the full 2020/2021 financial year was forecast to exceed the net loss for the year by approximately EUR 2,000 thousand.

Cash flows

Cash flows from operating activities amounted to EUR 15,947 thousand in the 2020/2021 financial year.

Borussia Dortmund forecasted as at 30 June 2020 that it would generate cash flows from operating activities of approximately EUR 34,000 thousand for the full 2020/2021 financial year.

Free cash flow

Free cash flow in the 2020/2021 financial year amounted to EUR -46,075 thousand. The report on expected developments for the 2020/2021 financial year dated 30 June 2020 had forecast free cash flow of EUR -34,000 thousand.

Development of non-financial performance indicators

Borussia Dortmund’s strategic corporate governance is centred around its fans, and their active involvement is fundamental to the club’s business strategy. Especially in times of uncertainty and social isolation, it is crucial that we maintain and strengthen communication with our most important stakeholder group: our fans.

We discussed the current situation with fans, fan clubs and fan groups on many occasions in the past season. These talks demonstrated how much our fans continue to value the sport, the club and most of all the footballing community.

BVB wants to understand the impact that the pandemic is having on Borussia Dortmund’s fan culture. To this end, an academic study was carried out in March which gave fans the opportunity to share their perception of the current status of the club, its fan community and professional football in general.

At the same time, BVB is a big proponent of engaging with its fans via its numerous digital platforms, such as the fan podcast, virtual Fan Council meetings and BVB’s official Twitch channel.

BVB wants to focus more closely on youth work going forward, and develop specific activities and initiatives for young people across various educational levels. In addition, the club will continuously set aside tickets for young people that are awarded in a transparent manner.

Progress is also being made in developing the club’s girl’s and women’s football programme. Doing things “the Dortmund way”, the ambitious goal is for the BVB women’s team to leave local league football behind as they aim higher. The team around the team is already in place. World champion and Olympic gold medallist Annike Krahn and ex-BVB pro Christian Timm are on board in an advisory capacity, while Thomas Sulewski has been named coach for the new team.

True to the guiding principle “Borussia unites!”, BVB once again underscored its continuing commitment to combating discrimination by adopting the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s (IHRA) working definition of anti-Semitism in October 2020, an important step in the fight against anti-Semitism. On 27 January 2021, DAZN broadcast episode 5 “Never forget” of its documentary series “BVB 09 – Stories who we are”.

The episode poignantly demonstrates Borussia Dortmund’s commitment to important social issues by championing projects that promote a remembrance culture and historical and political education. This also includes the club’s active role in the “Changing the Chants” project, which is funded by the European Union. Over the past two years, Borussia Dortmund has worked with Feyenoord Rotterdam, Fare Network and the Anne Frank House to devise and strengthen strategies that football clubs can use to educate fans about anti-Semitic behaviour in stadiums. Changing the Chants revolves around two separate educational programmes for football fans run by Borussia Dortmund and Feyenoord. The project’s closing meeting is planned for September 2021.

This year will see BVB restart the historical and political educational trips that it has run for fans since 2008 and for employees since 2011. They had been suspended for a year due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

In addition to being a socially responsible club, Borussia Dortmund also takes its environmental responsibility seriously. With this in mind, the club formed additional cross-disciplinary project groups that will increasingly tackle the issues related to the use of resources in match operations and mobility. In cooperation with Dortmund’s municipal utilities authority (DSW21), BVB is expanding its KombiTicket combined match/transport ticket for both individual matches and season tickets. They will now cover the entire state of North Rhine-Westphalia, thereby increasing the use of public transport and helping to cut CO₂ emissions.

The tickets had previously only been valid within the VRR transport authority region. Borussia Dortmund is also helping make employees’ daily commute more environmentally friendly by offering the chance to lease a bicycle via BVB on a subsidised basis. The beginning of 2021 also saw the launch of “Sustainable Merchandising”, a project to develop a sustainability concept for BVB merchandising based on a prototype product. It will cover the prototype’s entire production chain, from materials, through processing, down to logistics and re-use.

In addition, BVB has launched further projects to promote environmental protection and biodiversity, first and foremost using the club mascot, Emma, in educational programmes for children and young people. Examples include the BVB educational garden in the allotments behind SIGNAL IDUNA PARK and designing a nature trail in cooperation with SIGNAL IDUNA and the City of Dortmund on land belonging to the SIGNAL IDUNA Group.

During the pandemic, BVB has opted not to reduce its employees’ working hours and, during the lockdowns, provided job rotation opportunities within its various fields of activity. You can find all you need to know about sustainable development at BVB in our 2020/2021 Sustainability Report, which will be available from 29 October 2021 at https://verantwortung.bvb.de/en. *

* The content accessible via the link does not constitute part of this Group management report. In accordance with the statutory requirements, KPMG AG Wirtschaftsprüfungsgesellschaft has neither audited the cross-references nor the information to which the cross-references refer.