Tottenham Hotspur turned a £17 million pre-tax profit into a £26,000 loss in the six months to December.

The AIM-quoted company, which owns the Premiership football club, increased first-half turnover by 14 per cent to £54.5 million. However, operating costs rose 32 per cent to £45 million, partly reflecting the one-off costs of changes in first team management. Moreover, chairman Daniel Levy says ‘significant investment’ by the club in its squad resulted in a 48 per cent increase in intangible assets amortisation to £12.4 million, while profits on player disposals fell from £13 million to £4.3 million and finance expenses rose from £966,000 to £2.3 million.

Gate receipts fell by £900,000 although media and broadcasting revenues increased by 63 per cent to £17.8 million and merchandising sales grew by 26 per cent to £6.6 million.

Tottenham has two hefty capital expenditure projects, a new training centre and a larger stadium. The company received local authority planning permission for a new ‘state-of-the-art’ first team and academy training facility at Bull’s Cross, Enfield and Levy says Tottenham is ‘on track to announce our preferred option for the stadium development by the end of the first half of 2008’.

Shares in Tottenham surged from 25p three years ago to 181.5p earlier this month.
They now stand at 148.5p, valuing the company at £139 million.

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