The North London club, which failed to end a six-year wait for a major trophy by losing Sunday’s Carling Cup final to Birmingham City, revealed that turnover had fallen year-on-year from £196.8 million to £120 million for the six-month period. The half-year figures indicated that property sales had decreased by £74.1 million after the sale of 50 apartments on the site of the club’s former Highbury stadium in comparison to 261 sales the previous year.
Arsenal reported a significantly reduced profit on player sales of £4 million, with no big names having departed, compared to £33.9 million the previous year when the coffers were boosted by the big-money transfers of Emmanuel Adebayor and Kolo Toure to Manchester City.
The latest figures show that the club has £110 million in cash reserves, while net debt at November 30 was £147.4 million. The loss of £2.5 million was a sizeable drop from a profit of £29.2 million a year earlier.
“Last year we had some tremendous numbers pushed by property sales and also the sale of a couple of big players,” said Arsenal CEO Ivan Gazidis. “This year we don’t have those one-offs. Rather than seeing players leave we’ve actually invested in the squad.” Arsenal chairman Peter Hill-Wood said the club’s financial situation was “robust”.
