Celtic beat the first-half onslaught of the credit crunch, scoring an £8.6m profit for the six months to December and recording almost a clean sheet on debt.

Hugh MacDonald and Mark Williamson

Celtic beat the first-half onslaught of the credit crunch, scoring an £8.6m profit for the six months to December and recording almost a clean sheet on debt.

Figures announced yesterday show that, while Celtic's profits are £1.7m down, the decrease is a result of increased player costs with the acquisition of £7m of players and their accompanying wages.

However, Celtic had an exceptional operating cost of £1.22m, reflecting "labour and ancillary costs largely arising as the result of onerous contracts". This is believed to be business-speak for paying Thomas Gravesen, the Danish midfielder, the remainder of his contract after he was rendered surplus to requirements.

Celtic merchandising revenues rose by 6.4% to £10.89m, reflecting the wisdom of retaining their contracts in-house rather than outsourcing them. The debt of the club has also been reduced from £3.8m to £970,000.

Meanwhile, Coors, whose Carling lager brand sponsors the Old Firm football clubs, is launching a £20m push to double its share of the beer market in Scotland from 7% to 15%.