Celtic post record profits

Celtic have announced record annual profits of more than £40m ahead of their latest Champions League campaign.

The club made a profit of £40.7m last season and had £72.3m in the bank "net of bank borrowings" on 30 June this year.

Group revenue was up by more than a third to £120m and the club reported a gain in the transfer market of £14.4m.

The figures were published just after their pre-match media conference in Rotterdam ahead of their Group E opener against Feyenoord.

In a statement, chairman Peter Lawwell stated that factors in a £32m increase in revenue included Champions League football – after the Europa League campaign the previous year – plus a tour of Australia and record retail figures.

He added: "The £34.6m increase in profit before tax resulted from the significant revenue increase outlined above along with a £14.4m gain on sale of player registrations, predominantly from the sales of Jota, (Josip) Juranovic and (Giorgos) Giakoumakis.

"In addition, we recorded £13.5m of other income that came from a combination of compensation received following the departure of Ange Postecoglou and a business interruption insurance recovery in relation to Covid-19, with the two items mentioned being one off in nature and typically non-recurring."

Lawwell stated that the cash reserves were used to fund the summer transfer plans for the last two seasons, with fees "typically paid in instalments".

The former Celtic chief executive added: "This sum also contains the cash required to fund the significant investment that the club is planning to make in developing our Barrowfield training facility.

"It is important to highlight that, given the increasing gap between the sums able to be earned between the Champions League and the Europa