The Esk


Independent analysis of football's money, owners and rules

The Analysis Series: Como 1907, ownership, what the Hartonos have put in, and what 2025/26 is likely to cost (guest article)

CWTE

14 minutes

Ownership chain, owner background, share capital and capital contributions, the Como 1907 S.r.l. accounts to June 2025, the SENT Entertainment group accounts, and an estimate of the 2025/26 loss and owner subsidy.

Guest contributor · 25 October 2026

This is a guest article in The Analysis Series. It was compiled on 25 October 2026 from Companies House filings and published Italian accounts. Estimates are marked as such. The views are the author’s own.


The short version

Como 1907 is owned through SENT Entertainment Limited, a London company. Its only registered shareholder is PT Global Media Visual of Indonesia, and its UK filings name Robert Budi Hartono as the ultimate controlling party. His brother Michael, co-owner in every press account, died on 19 March 2026 and never appeared on the UK register.

The family bought the club out of Serie D in April 2019 for about €200,000. Since then they have paid €297.4m into Como 1907 S.r.l. up to 24 November 2025. At the holding level SENT has issued £335m of shares for cash, about €390m, so approximately €100m to €170m has gone into the rest of the group (property, academy, media, the Italian trading company and the foundation) or is held as cash.

The club lost €105.1m in 2024/25 (€132.1m on the consolidated figures) on value of production of €55.4m. The six years of losses to June 2025 total €188.9m. My central estimate for 2025/26 is a club loss of about €133m and owner funding of about €165m, of which €69.2m was paid by November 2025. That would take cumulative owner money into the club to circa €390m by June 2026.

Two things stand out on the register. SENT has issued no new shares since 12 June 2025, so the 2025/26 money came by a route not yet visible. And SENT’s accounts for the 18 months to June 2025 were due on 29 June 2026 and are overdue.

Who owns Como

The UK register and SENT’s own accounts give a clear chain:

Item Detail
Holding company SENT Entertainment Limited, company number 11634909
Incorporated 22 October 2018
Registered office Elsley Court, 20–22 Great Titchfield Street, London W1W 8BE (also the auditor’s address)
Registered shareholder PT Global Media Visual, Indonesia: all 320,250,000 £1 ordinary shares (confirmation statement, 16 August 2026)
Ultimate parent company PT Lingkarmulia Indah, Jl. A. Yani No. 26, Kudus, Indonesia (2023 accounts)
Ultimate controlling party Robert Budi Hartono, in the directors’ opinion (2023 accounts)
Person with significant control Robert Budi Hartono: 75% or more of shares and votes, and the right to appoint or remove directors, since 22 October 2018
Current directors Mirwan (Suwarso), appointed 1 August 2022, resident in England. Robert Wijaya Suwanto, since 2018, resident in Indonesia
Former directors Matthew Ross (2018 to July 2022), Dennis Wise (August 2022 to August 2023), Robert Goddard (August 2023 to June 2025)
Auditor SRLV Audit Limited. Opinion qualified for 2022 and 2023 (opening stock at the Italian branch could not be verified)
Charges None registered
Accounts Last filed to 31 December 2023. Period extended to 29 June 2025, due 29 June 2026, now overdue

The owners

Robert Budi Hartono (born April 1941, per Companies House) and Michael Bambang Hartono (1939 to 2026) ran the Djarum group, founded in Kudus, Central Java, by their father Oei Wie Gwan. Djarum began in kretek cigarettes. The brothers’ wealth now rests mainly on their controlling stake in Bank Central Asia (BCA), Indonesia’s largest private bank, held through Djarum-linked vehicles. Other interests include Polytron electronics, the Blibli e-commerce site, the Grand Indonesia development in Jakarta, palm oil and telecoms towers. The family’s sport interests also include the PB Djarum badminton club.

Forbes put the brothers first on its Indonesia rich list in December 2025 with a combined US$43.8bn. At Michael’s death Il Sole 24 Ore gave Robert US$18.2bn and Michael US$17.5bn. On those numbers Como’s entire cumulative funding is about 1% of the family’s net worth.

Michael died in Singapore on 19 March 2026, aged 86. No transfer of any Como-related interest has been reported. Il Giorno reported that his children had already taken on roles and that a son runs SENT. Nothing on the UK register supports that, and I treat it as unverified.

A new company may be relevant. SB Legacy Holdings Limited (17351584) was incorporated on 21 July 2026 at SENT’s address. It is a holding company, its subscriber is PT Global Media Visual, its PSC is Robert Budi Hartono and its director is Robert Wijaya Suwanto. It has no trading history yet. Its timing, four months after Michael’s death, makes it worth watching as a possible restructuring or succession vehicle. That reading is mine, not filed.

Day-to-day control sits with Mirwan Suwarso, club president and SENT director. He came from advertising (Saatchi & Saatchi), film directing and Super Soccer TV, then ran Mola, the Djarum group’s streaming platform. Cesc Fàbregas is head coach and a shareholder.

Corporate structure


Diagram 1. Ownership chain from SENT Entertainment Limited’s 2023 accounts, the 2026 confirmation statement and the Companies House PSC register. Subsidiary list as at 31 December 2023. SENT Media UK Ltd was dissolved on 3 December 2024. Mola Records Ltd and Mola Drinks Ltd, also linked to Mirwan Suwarso, are in liquidation.

The 2023 accounts list no intermediate Italian holding company between SENT and the club. Como 1907 S.r.l. is held directly. The property side sits in SENT Property S.r.l., which matters for the Sinigaglia redevelopment and any real estate around the lake. The club holds the Sinigaglia concession to 2032 at €205,910 a year and has asked for a much longer term. Populous has designed a 15,200-seat rebuild planned for May 2026 to August 2028. No cost or financing figure has been published.

Minority interests and Dennis Wise

Fàbregas was announced as a shareholder on 1 August 2022 and Thierry Henry on 29 August 2022. Neither stake has been sized publicly. SENT’s accounts explain why. In 2023 Como 1907 S.r.l. granted call options over 5.5% of its fully diluted capital to “Initial Co-Investors”, with the scheme starting on 4 May 2023. The options can only be exercised if control passes to someone other than the current shareholders. So the co-investors share in a sale and in nothing else. The accounts do not name them. Fàbregas and Henry are the obvious candidates, but that is an inference.

Dennis Wise has no current role. He joined as technical consultant in May 2019, became sole administrator in February 2021 and sat on the SENT board from 9 August 2022 to 14 August 2023. He left the club in late July 2024, saying the club had decided to follow Fàbregas’s direction. He holds no registered interest.

What the Hartonos paid for Como

SENT completed the purchase on 4 April 2019. The club had been refounded after its 2017 bankruptcy and was in Serie D. The price was about €200,000, paid to the previous owner Massimo Nicastro. Every euro since has been operating losses, squad investment and infrastructure, funded by the owners as equity.

Money into SENT Entertainment

SENT has been funded entirely by £1 shares issued at par for cash, roughly every one to three months. Its accounts show no shareholder loans and no material borrowing.

Calendar year New shares issued (£m) Issued capital at year end (£m) Note
2018 3.0 3.0 Incorporation, 22 October
2019 9.0 12.0 Como bought 4 April
2020 9.0 21.0  
2021 13.0 34.0  
2022 16.0 50.0 Promotion push in Serie B
2023 57.0 107.0  
2024 138.0 245.0 Promotion to Serie A, summer 2024
2025 90.0 335.0 Last allotment 12 June 2025
2026 (14.75) 320.25 Capital reduction, solvency statement 16 March, filed 27 August
Total for cash 335.0   About €390m at an indicative €1.17 to £1

Chart 1. SENT Entertainment Limited issued share capital, from SH01 and SH19 filings.

The reduction of £14.75m by solvency statement is usually done to create distributable reserves or return capital. The filing does not say which. It came three days before Michael Hartono’s death and was filed five months later.

Money into Como 1907

Calcio e Finanza has published the owner payments into the club by financial year (to 30 June), taken from the club’s filed accounts.

Financial year Net loss (€m) Owner payments to club (€m) All owner money incl. related-party revenue (€m)
2019/20 (3.65) 2.57 2.59
2020/21 (6.41) 7.41 7.41
2021/22 (7.53) 9.84 9.84
2022/23 (18.48) 21.95 23.46
2023/24 (47.76) 45.52 45.65
2024/25 (105.07) 133.55 139.33
Total to June 2025 (188.88) 220.82 228.27
2025/26, 7 July to 24 November 2025 not yet filed 69.16 69.16
Total to 24 November 2025     297.43

The related-party column adds €7.44m of revenue the club booked from owner-linked companies (mainly €5.78m in 2024/25) and the €0.2m purchase price. The year-by-year pattern is simple: the owners pay in slightly more than the club loses, keeping equity positive. At 30 June 2025 equity stood at €32.4m.

Reconciling SENT and the club

SENT raised about €390m to June 2025. The club received €220.8m of capital to June 2025, or €290m including the money paid between July and November 2025. The residual of €100m to €170m depends on whether SENT pre-funded the autumn 2025 payments from cash already raised. Part of it is SENT’s own losses: the parent lost £18.9m in 2023 alone. The rest will be in SENT Property, SENT Entertainment Italy, the academy and the foundation. Football Benchmark’s figure of about €390m “invested in club and related activities” fits the SENT total, not the club figure.

The open question is 2025/26. With no SENT share issues after 12 June 2025, the €69.2m paid by November and whatever followed must have come from cash SENT already held, from loans, or directly from Indonesia into Italy. The overdue SENT accounts would answer it.

Como 1907 S.r.l. accounts

Single-entity accounts of the club, years to 30 June, €m. The 2024/25 consolidated figures are shown separately.

€m 2022/23 2023/24 2024/25 2024/25 consolidated
League Serie B Serie B (2nd) Serie A (10th)  
Value of production 12.1 9.8 55.4 62.0
  TV rights in grants   0.0 31.8  
  Sponsorship and commercial 1.35 0.65 5.78  
  Matchday 1.16 1.55 5.92  
  Player trading gains 0.39 0.0 5.15  
  Operating grants 8.0 7.36 4.67  
Staff costs 21.8 33.5 85.6  
Amortisation and write-downs 0.8 5.7 31.4  
Other costs 7.8 18.3 41.4  
Total costs 30.4 57.5 158.6  
Net loss (18.5) (47.8) (105.1) (132.1)
Total debts 4.4 42.1 129.9 135.4
Equity n/a 3.9 32.4 53.7
Staff costs to value of production 180% 342% 155%  

The step into Serie A is the story. TV money arrived (€31.8m) but staff costs rose by €52m and amortisation by €26m. Player contract pay alone was €79.0m. There is no financial debt: the net financial position was positive €7.7m. The €129.9m of debts will be mainly transfer instalments owed to other clubs, payroll and tax, though no breakdown has been published.

The consolidated loss is €27m larger than the club’s. The consolidating entity has not been confirmed in any source I found. Calcio e Finanza’s summary table also shows “fatturato” of €120.5m for 2024/25. That is a different measure, so I use the €55.4m value of production, which ties to the costs and loss.

SENT Entertainment group accounts

SENT reports in sterling on a calendar year, so its figures do not line up with the club’s June year end.

£m 2020 2021 2022 2023
Group turnover n/a (small company) 4.94 10.28 12.80
  of which football       9.33
Group loss for the year (8.13) (10.61) (14.19) (40.70)
Parent: investment in subsidiaries   7.86 27.08 53.14
Parent net assets   21.3 34.06 72.22
Group net assets       26.18
Issued share capital at year end 21.0 34.0 50.0 107.0

The 2022 loss was first reported as £14.79m and restated to £14.19m. The 2023 accounts also show £2.84m lent to companies under common control and fully provided against, plus £34.7m of tax losses. Group revenue is small beside the funding: in 2023 the shareholder put in £57m against turnover of £12.8m.

Transfer spending

Window Spent (€m) Received (€m) Net (€m) Source and note
Summer 2024 47.5 3.7 (43.8) Disclosed fees
January 2025 48 to 100 4 (44 to 96) Disclosed fees v Tuttomercatoweb estimate
Summer 2025 107.5 13.7 (93.8) Swiss Ramble puts net at 94
January 2026 17.5 0 (17.5)  
Season 2025/26 total 127.3 16.4 (110.9) Transfermarkt
Summer 2026 64 to 137.5 20.5 (43.6) or more Transfermarkt 64. Sky 137.5. Tuttomercatoweb 85 incl. Nico Paz buyback of 60

Calcio e Finanza puts the gross wage bill at €47.8m for 2025/26 (9th in Serie A, up 25.4%) and €62.5m for 2026/27. These are squad salary estimates and sit well below the €85.6m staff cost in the accounts, which includes bonuses, social charges and all non-playing staff.

2025/26: likely loss and owner subsidy

The 2025/26 accounts (year to 30 June 2026) are not yet published. Calcio e Finanza expects a significant loss. Como finished 4th in Serie A with 71 points and reached the Coppa Italia semi-finals. My estimate below is built from the 2024/25 accounts and the inputs shown. All of it is estimate, not filed.

€m Lower loss Central Higher loss Basis
TV rights 42 40 38 4th place lifts merit share from 2024/25’s 31.8
Matchday 8 7 6 Small stadium, a curve removed in 2026
Sponsorship and commercial 12 10 8 From 5.8, higher profile
Player trading gains 15 10 6 Sales of 16.4 gross in 2025/26
Other incl. cup and grants 11 11 10 Coppa Italia semi-final run
Value of production 88 78 68  
Staff costs 100 105 110 85.6 plus 25% squad wage rise and bonuses
Amortisation 52 58 65 Squad cost of 220 to 270 written off over 4 to 5 years
Other costs 45 48 52 41.4 in 2024/25
Total costs 197 211 227  
Net loss (club) (109) (133) (159) Group about 25 to 30 more if the 2024/25 pattern holds
Cash operating loss 57 75 94 Loss less amortisation
Transfer cash paid in year 70 90 110 Net 110.9 plus prior instalments, less deferrals
Owner funding needed 127 165 204 69.2 paid by 24 November 2025

On the central case the owners put about €165m into the club in 2025/26, of which €96m came after November 2025 and is not yet visible. QuiFinanza estimated squad costs of about €112m against revenue of about €55m, a ratio above 200%. Calcio e Finanza also reported in March 2026 that a UEFA settlement agreement was expected. Both point the same way.

2026/27 and the Champions League

Champions League football changes the revenue line for the current year. UEFA’s base fee for the league phase was €18.62m in 2025/26. With performance and value-pillar payments I would expect a debutant to earn €30m to €50m. That is real money, but it covers less than 40% of the central 2025/26 loss.

The summer 2026 window cost at least €64m and probably far more once the Nico Paz deal is counted. The gross wage bill is up again to €62.5m. So I expect 2026/27 to need owner funding of at least €100m even with Champions League income, plus any stadium money that runs through SENT Property rather than the club.

Analysis

  1. The structure is simple and wholly equity funded. An Indonesian parent, a UK holding company, the club held directly, no charges and no shareholder loans. That is unusual among Serie A owners and means there is no debt to pay back to the Hartonos if they sell.
  2. The register names a single controlling brother. Every press account says “the Hartono brothers”, but the UK filings have only ever named Robert. Michael’s death therefore changes nothing on the register. Any change in the family’s arrangements will show up first in PT Global Media Visual or the new SB Legacy Holdings.
  3. In 2024/25 the club spent almost three euros for every euro it earned. Revenue rose more than fivefold in Serie A but costs rose faster. The 2025/26 loss is likely to be the largest yet.
  4. The minority co-investors only win on a sale. The 5.5% call options are worthless while the Hartonos own the club and valuable if they sell. That aligns Fàbregas and Henry (if it is them) with building value, not with drawing income.

Analyst’s opinion

By June 2026 the Hartonos will have put roughly €390m into the club and, counting the rest of SENT, about €500m in total. That compares with a reported €1bn valuation that no filing or transaction supports. At that figure Como would trade at about 16 times consolidated 2024/25 value of production. That is a multiple only the elite Premier League clubs reach on my comparison table. Como also has a 15,000-seat stadium it does not own.

I don’t think the family is managing Como for a financial return. The funding is about 1% of their wealth, it is all equity and the losses are planned, matched to the euro each year. The risk to the project is not money. It is succession and regulation: an 85-year-old controlling owner after his brother’s death, plus UEFA squad cost rules that Como currently breaches by a wide margin. If the overdue SENT accounts, the SB Legacy filings or a UEFA settlement show a change of approach, that will be the moment to revisit this.

Data limitations and caveats

Read before citing

Como 1907 S.r.l. figures come from the filed accounts as reported by Calcio e Finanza. I have not seen the Italian filings directly. Calcio e Finanza’s own articles differ slightly (staff costs 85.6 or 83.9; 2023/24 costs 57.5 or 57.6).

The 2024/25 consolidated figures come from secondary reporting of the club’s corporate documents page. The consolidating entity is not confirmed.

SENT figures are from Companies House accounts to 31 December 2023 and share capital filings to August 2026. Accounts for the period to 29 June 2025 are overdue.

The euro to sterling conversion at €1.17 is indicative. The allotments were made over seven years at varying rates.

The identity of the “Initial Co-Investors” and the size of the Fàbregas and Henry interests are not disclosed.

The 2025/26 section is my estimate. Transfer figures vary widely by source: the summer 2026 range runs from €64m to €137.5m.

The €1bn valuation is a press figure with no transaction behind it.

This was produced by a guest contributor to The Analysis Series. Corrections can be submitted under The Esk’s corrections policy.

 

In this article

Clubs:

Paul Quinn

Independent analyst of the finance, ownership, governance and regulation of professional football. Publishes The Esk through CWTE. About · Methodology · Corrections

Leave a Reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

The Esk Briefing

One email a week: every new report with its key findings. Free, no advertising, unsubscribe at any time.