Arsenal announced record pre-tax profits of 56 million pounds ($88 million) on Friday as the Premier League club reaped the rewards of paying off the entire debt on its Highbury Square development.
"The group has made good progress in the last year and I am excited by the opportunities we have in front of us," said Arsenal chief executive Ivan Gazidis, who added that most of the profits were going back into the team.
Revenue was boosted by an increase of 4 million pounds ($6.3 million) in Premier League television income and a similar increase in Champions League returns, up to 27.3million pounds ($43 million). Total pre-tax profits were up more than 10 million pounds ($15.7 million) on last year.
The settlement of loans on Highbury Square, which had stood at 130 million pounds ($204 million), will delight the Arsenal board, which had been forced to extend the bank repayment deadline of April this year to December.
Arsenal has not won a trophy since 2005, and its last league title came a year earlier. Despite the club's healthy returns, manager Arsene Wenger has remained cautious with his spending in the transfer market, preferring instead to concentrate on bringing players through the youth scheme.
"We do have a policy of building and not buying, and that's a difficult path to tread sometimes, but as a result of that policy we're seeing a tremendous number of good young players progressing and developing into the finished article," Gazidis said.
