Chelsea's balance boosted by share deal, player sales and Euro glory

The reasons behind Chelsea being able to claim a profit for last year have finally been revealed with the proceeds of a share deal and income from winning the Champions League bloating their balance sheet.

The club said last November they had made £1.4 million in the year up to the end of June 2012, the first time they had been in the black since Roman Abramovich bought Chelsea in 2003, but only released limited details of their accounts.

The figures were flattered by an £18.4m profit relating to the cancellation of non-equity preference shares previously owned by TV company BSkyB, accounts lodged yesterday with Companies House showed.

The earnings were also boosted by the £28.8m gained from selling players including Yuri Zhirkov to Russia's Anzhi Makhachkala, Nicolas Anelka to Shanghai Shenhua in China and Alex to Paris St-Germain.

Exceptional items in 2011 included a one-off £6.4m payment to the taxman as part of a deal on image rights and money paid to former manager Carlo Ancelotti and his coaching team, which stopped after he was hired by Paris St-Germain.

Chelsea's revenues have also been transformed thanks to winning the Champions League final for the first time last May. But being able to satisfy Uefa's forthcoming financial fair play rules, which are designed to force clubs to curb their losses, still "provides a significant challenge" according to the club.

"The football club needs to balance success on the field together with the financial imperatives of this new regime," Chelsea's secretary Alan Shaw wrote in the accounts.

"The result recorded in this financial year puts us in a good position to meet the assessment criteria for the initial periods," he added.

Chelsea suffered a setback last month when they failed to progress beyond the group stages of this season's Champions League.

Instead they will have to play in the far less lucrative Europa League, which will have an impact on their future financial results.