12th Feb 2016 16:20
LONDON (Alliance News) - Scottish football club Celtic PLC Friday said its pretax profit almost doubled in the first half of the financial year after making a comfortable profit from selling Virgil Van Dijk, but warned its financial performance will not be as good in the second half.
The club, which is currently top of the Scottish Premiership, almost doubled its pretax profit in the six months ended December 31, to GBP11.7 million from the GBP6.6 million booked in the same period a year earlier.
That material lift came despite revenue remaining broadly flat at GBP31.4 million, as Celtic made GBP12.5 million from the sale of players in the period compared to only generating GBP7.1 million in player sales a year ago.
The profit from player sales was mainly driven by the transfer of Virgil Van Dijk to Southampton.
However, Celtic also invested in its squad, purchasing Scott Allan, Logan Bailly, Carlton Cole, Ryan Christie, Nadir Ciftci, Saidy Janko and Jozo Simunovic for a total of GBP6.1 million. A year ago, player purchases amounted to GBP5.7 million.
"In addition to player acquisitions, we continue to fund our youth academy with the objective of developing our own first team players. The fruits of this are seen this season with the regular match appearances of Kieran Tierney, Callum McGregor and James Forrest," said Celtic.
The club's net cash position at the end of 2015 rose to GBP7.7 million from GBP5.3 million at the end of 2014.
"On the park, it has been a frustrating season. We are top of the Scottish Premiership and in the Sixth Round of the Scottish Cup, but we fell short in the SPFL League Cup, being knocked out in the semi final. In the European competitions, we were unable to progress beyond the group stages of the UEFA Europa League, having not qualified for the group stages of the UEFA Champions League," said the club.
"The strategy of the board is unchanged. Our overwhelming priority is to win the SPFL Premiership and to qualify for the group stages of the UEFA Champions League," it added.
Celtic warned that its financial performance in the second half of the financial year will not be at the same level as the first, as it has fewer home games scheduled and no European footabll to focus on. Celtic said it also expects to generate less profit from player sales.
Celtic shares were down 2.7% to 71.0 pence per share on Friday afternoon.
By Joshua Warner; [email protected]; @JoshAlliance
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