In the six months to November 30 2001, the Birmingham club recorded sales of £16.95m ($24.2m/EUR27.3m) versus £13.17m ($19.6m/EUR22.2m) in the same period last year.
Said Chairman Doug Ellis: "The heart of our business is the football team and our efforts continue to be aimed at making us as successful as we can within our resources. Our supporters remain the lifeblood of the club and we are committed to increasing the supporter base.
"We believe that key factors of our business include increasing attendances and broadening our supporter base and I am delighted to report the early signs of improvement with season ticket and membership sales up to 18,957 (2000/2001: 17,117) and it is anticipated that last year's average league attendance of 31,597 will increase to 33,000 for this season."
Aston Villa recommended an interim dividend of 1.1p (2000/2001: 2.2p) per share and aims to focus investment on its youth academy.
