EPL side Arsenal announced a pre-tax profit of £17.8M ($26.9M) for the six months to Nov. 30 last year, but the figures "revealed an ongoing reliance on player sales to balance the books," according to James Olley of the London EVENING STANDARD. The Gunners made £23.2M ($35M) in player trading after "selling stars including Robin van Persie and Alex Song while acquiring Lukas Podolski, Oliver Giroud and Santi Cazorla and tying six first-team players including Jack Wilshere and Theo Walcott to new deals." The figures showed turnover fell by £7.4M ($11.2M) to £106.1M ($160.3M) "due to there being four fewer home fixtures than the same period last year and the importance of turning a profit on transfers is underlined by the club’s operating profit falling" to just £5M ($7.6M) compared to the previous £15.2M figure. Arsenal already has "the fourth highest wage bill of clubs in the country and the full impact of new deals handed to Wilshere, Walcott, Aaron Ramsey, Carl Jenkinson, Kieran Gibbs and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain will not be felt on the balance sheet until the next set of accounts later this year." Arsenal believes it has "reached something of a financial watershed." The club’s healthy cash balance, £123.3M ($186.3M) according to the accounts, "reflects the dividends yielded by the property development scheme at Highbury Square, where all but one flat is sold and that is expected to be retained for private use." Instead of relying on player sales to boost its financial position, Arsenal "will instead be able to use funds from the new Emirates sponsorship deal," worth £150M ($226.7M) over five years. The "payment structure is frontloaded," meaning the Gunners will receive £30M ($45.3M) this summer, which has been earmarked to spend on players (EVENING STANDARD, 2/25).
