Arsenal to Announce Record Profits

by Wayne Veysey

If Theo Walcott is going to ask for a pay rise at the Emirates, he couldn’t pick a better time. Arsenal are about to announce record turnover figures, making the club the world’s third-richest behind Real Madrid and Manchester United. Walcott, on about £15,000 a week, will have no shortage of suitors if the Gunners don’t bump up his salary in line with his enhanced status after his dazzling performance in Zagreb.
Arsenal’s annual results, to be released on September 26, will show that turnover from the whole business has rocketed to about £225m. Club sources say the figures for the year ending May 31, 2008, will also reveal record pretax profits of nearly £40m, while the group’s operating profit is expected to comfortably exceed £50m.

Twelve months ago, Arsenal reported a turnover of £200.8m to become Britain’s richest club, but they were overtaken by United (£245m) and Chelsea (£223m). In the global rankings, Real Madrid reign supreme after recording a turnover of £263m for the 2006-7 season.
Although Arsenal failed to win a trophy for the third consecutive season, the results demonstrate the success of the Emirates stadium and the board’s policy of living within its means. Arsenal hosted 31 home matches last season to increase match-day revenue to more than £96m, while the club received an extra £17m in broadcasting revenue compared with the previous year through the “uplifted” Premier League TV contract.

Although Arsenal’s turnover figure includes nonrecurring property income, the club is expected to report more than £200m from its “core football activities”. The figures are “before player trading and depreciation” and do not take into account this summer’s transfer dealings. Players’ wages will not be revealed in the report, but it is understood that the wages-to-turnover ratio has fallen below 50%, the lowest in the league.
With the club £245m in debt and having to service annual repayments of £24m, much interest will centre on its success in selling flats at Highbury Square amid the economic downturn. Arsenal announced earlier this year that they had sold 91% of the flats, but some buyers are understood to be willing to forfeit their deposits and the club may have to adjust its prediction of recouping £350m from the redevelopment of Highbury.
Meanwhile, Arsenal are close to appointing their new chief executive. The board reduced the shortlist to two candidates, understood to be 49-year-old former Vodafone executive Paul Donovan and Alistair Mackintosh, the former Manchester City chief executive. The final interviews were held last week and an announcement is imminent.