Arsenal announce pre-tax profit of €46m for 2011-12

Arsenal have announced a pre-tax profit of €46 million on turnover of €306m for 2011-12.

The club also confirm player trading profit of €33m following the sale of Cesc Fabregas and Samir Nasri to Barcelona and Manchester City respectively.

After a summer that saw the arrival of Mikel Arteta, Per Mertesacker, Yossi Benayoun, Gervinho, Park Chu-Young, Andre Santos and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, the north Londoners have also seen their wage bill jump from €157m to €181m, leaving only City, Chelsea and Manchester United ahead of them.

Arsene Wenger spoke about the club’s financial position – something he has kept a keen interest in during his time at the club.

He told reporters: “We want to spend our money in the right way. We are not scared to spend the money.

“With some clubs we can’t compete on certain players – and for the rest, we only want to bring in players who add something to our squad and give a chance as well to the young players we have.

“We have good players, because to buy one more, we have to get one out.

Reflecting on the expected announcement, he added: “Our numbers are good. Under the actual circumstances this is quite positive because the whole [global] environment is not positive.

“We are very lucky because we have a good support and the income of our gates is very high.

“We have to maintain that by keeping our fans happy and to continue to manage well in the way that we do it.”

The overall turnover figure of €306m is down on 2010-11’s €322m on account of a reduction in property activity. The figure is split between €120m in matchday income, €107m for broadcasting payments, €66m for commercial projects and retail, €9.6m on property and €3.7m on player trading.

Source: Goal