‘Responsible’ Arsenal announce €46.5m profits

MANAGER Arsene Wenger believes Arsenal deserve double credit for maintaining a sensible business policy as they look to compete with other Premier League clubs bankrolled by billionaires from around the globe.

The Gunners, who revealed American businessman Stan Kroenke has accepted an invitation to join the board, yesterday announced a pre-tax profit of £36.7million (€46.5m) for the year ending May 2008 as the north London club continue to reap the rewards from their move to the 60,000-seater Emirates Stadium in July 2006.

Gate and match-day revenue totalled some £94.6m (€120.4m), which represents 45% of their overall football revenues.

Even though Arsenal have a significant amount of net debt — £318.1m (€405m) — much of that is linked to a funding deal secured over a long-term 23-year repayment schedule with a low interest rate of 5.3%, and will be reduced by the ongoing sale of properties at the newly-regenerated Highbury Square development, which has already generated proceeds of £18.7m (€23.8m).

Wenger believes such prudence and careful planning in what is often an unstable economic environment makes the Gunners among the market leaders.

“These figures prove the club is well-managed and we are responsible people in a business which is not always very responsible,” Wenger told Arsenal TV Online.

“That deserves double credit for me, because when your environment is destabilising, to keep your line of conduct is always a good sign of strength and shows as well that the club has responsible people making the decisions.

“You would like that your business does not depend too much on outside income and lives with your own resources, which depends on the quality of the games the first team plays. That is what we try to achieve.

“Unless you have an exceptional situation like you do at Chelsea, and now also Manchester City, football is highly dependent on the economic environment and on the world economic situation because a third of the income comes from the media, which relies upon adverts.”

Wenger has a long tradition of scouting the globe for young talent, which he and the club then nurture rather than signing big-name stars.

Although the Gunners boss did not spend heavily during the transfer window, chairman Peter Hill-Wood maintains the French coach has a healthy war chest available should he wish to dip into it.

“Funds will always be made available to Arsene to improve the quality of the squad and we have consistently stated that adequate funds are available to him if needed,” he said.

“We maintain a constant dialogue with Arsene and whilst there is not a set figure in place, we are always able to buy additional players should he choose to buy. We have every confidence in Arsene and trust in his judgment.

“The accounts which we have released today show that the group had cash balances of some £93m (€118m). This is clearly a very healthy position from which to support the manager’s spending plans.

“However, it must be recognised that £31.5m (€40m) of this cash is held as security for the debt service of our bonds and its use is therefore restricted.”