London, Sep 25 (Xinhua) The bigger stadium for English Premier League outfit Arsenal has paid off with turnover increasing by almost 50 percent to a club record 200.8 million pounds ($406.6 million).
Arsenal Holdings PLC said Monday its record results, for the year ending May 31, came as a result of the move to the 60,400-capacity Emirates Stadium in July 2006.
The Gunners had played at the 38,500-seat Highbury Stadium for the previous 91 years.
Arsenal chairman Peter Hill-Wood said the club earned 3.1 million pounds ($6.2 million) from each match day last season, totalling 90.6 million pounds ($183.5 million).
That’s more than double the 44.1 million pounds ($89.3 million) produced by match-day revenue at Highbury.
Group operating profits increased by 274 percent to 51.2 million pounds ($103.7 million), before player trading and depreciation.
However, the club’s net profit dropped by nearly 64 percent to 2.82 million pounds ($5.7 million) from 7.9 million pounds a year ago because it had to refinance long-term debt connected to building the new stadium.