Chelsea has announced an annual profit of 1.4 million pounds for the year ending June 30, 2012.The declaration marks the first time the Blues have made a profit since Russian billionaire Roman Abramovich bought the club in 2003. The club also announced a record group turnover of 255.7 million pounds, putting the Stamford Bridge outfit into fifth in Europe in terms of generated revenue.
Chelsea’s profits in 2011-12 are a significant improvement on the club’s 67.7 million pound loss for the previous financial year, while they also made a 28.8 million pound profit in the transfer market. The figures do not include the lavish investment spent on the likes of new recruits Eden Hazard and Oscar, as the money was spent in the new financial year.
However, Chelsea’s successful financial year will still not go unnoticed and was hugely attributable to the increased revenue gained from the Blues’ UEFA Champions League win in May. In addition, the club was able to secure numerous commercial deals off the field, and the overall impact has delighted chief executive Ron Gourlay.
“Our club philosophy is built on success. We had that success on the field this year, as we were the first London team to win the Champions League, and we enjoyed it off the field as well and this helps us inject financial investment into the team,” Gourlay said. “The big challenge is always to have a successful team on the field that wins trophies and to make a profit at the same time.
“The objectives have been set across the whole business, from the academy to Under-21s and all the way through to the first team.”
The figures place Chelsea in a much healthier position to deal with UEFA’s upcoming Financial Fair Play regulations, and chairman Bruce Buck was similarly pleased by the announcements.
“We will never forget that night in Munich and now we are celebrating serious progress off the field too,” Buck said. “While we draw huge satisfaction from the achievements of the past 12 months, we are more than ever focused on continuing the story of on-field success supported by improving financial performance off the pitch.”
