Player sales lift Gunners' yearly profit up to £36m

A view of Arsenal's Emirates Stadium (GETTY IMAGES)

Ivan Gazidis, the Arsenal chief executive, maintains that the club's latest set of financial results show they "can and will forge our own path to success" after posting another healthy pre-tax profit.

Group profit before tax was £36.6m in the figures for the year ending 31 May which were published yesterday, up from the equivalent 2011 figures of £14.8m. Arsenal, though, could not escape an inevitable increase in wages from £124m in 2011 to £143m, which represented 60.9 per cent of the club's football revenues.

The latest results incorporate the sales of Cesc Fabregas to Barcelona and Samir Nasri to Manchester City last summer, which helped make a profit from player trading of £26m.

The parent holding company's overall turnover was £243m, down from £255m, mainly because of reduced property sales, with a rise in revenues to £235.3m from £225.4m.

"Cash and bank balances" stood at £153.6m, slightly down from a year ago, with net debt stable at £98.9m, most of which is tied in with the long-term mortgage following the move to the Emirates Stadium from Highbury.

Gazidis feels this all puts Arsenal in good stead to fulfil Uefa's Financial Fair Play guidelines when they start to apply next year. He said: "Clubs, fans and other stakeholders in the game are demanding a more rational financial approach and this reinforces our conviction that our club is strongly placed to succeed over the long term."

The healthy financial results will no doubt push many fans to further question the clubs' frugal transfer policy over the past few seasons but manager Arsène Wenger said: "We are not scared to spend the money, but we feel that even if we spend our money, with some clubs we can't compete on certain players."