Arsenal profit drops on player buys

Arsenal announced yesterday a pretax profit for the six months ending November 30 of £17.8 million compared to £49.5 million a year earlier.

In a statement, the north London club said £40.9 million had been spent on signing Lukas Podolski, Santi Cazorla and Olivier Giroud and extending the contracts of players including England internationals Theo Walcott and Jack Wilshere.

Player sales netted £42.5 million while turnover dropped from £113.5 million to £106 million as a result of four fewer home fixtures compared to the same period in the previous year.

The profit for the six months to November 2011 included the sale of Cesc Fabregas, Samir Nasri and Gael Clichy.

Arsenal said it had no short-term debt and possessed cash reserves of 123.4 million pounds compared to 115.2 million a year earlier.