CELTIC have announced that the club made an £11.2m pre-tax profit last season despite a significant drop in revenue.
The club's annual accounts showed group revenue decreased by 14.6% to £64.7m, with some of the fall being attributed to a £100 reward to season-ticket holders.
Operating expenses also fell, by 4.5% to just under £60m, to leave Celtic with almost £4m in the bank on June 30. Celtic chairman Ian Bankier described the results as "pleasing" and claimed it left the Scottish champions "in a strong financial position going forward".
Bankier thanked former manager Neil Lennon for his contribution to the club before he left in the summer to be replaced by Ronny Deila, after guiding Celtic to their third successive title and two successive Champions League campaigns.
The Parkhead chairman also reiterated the message of shrewd husbandry that chief executive Peter Lawwell sent out in the wake of Celtic's elimination from the Champions League qualifiers last month and in the face of a perceived lack of spending by the board.
Bankier said: "Whilst the short-term objectives of the company are dominated by our day-to-day success as a club on the park, the chief role of the board is to ensure that the long-term future of the club, and the company, is secured.
"Ensuring the long-term security of this club is a process of maximising the potential of the present and managing the risks of the future.
"The board is highly conscious of the financial environment in which we play football here in Scotland.
"The harsh reality is that the total income from broadcasting rights available to the Scottish game is a tiny fraction of what is available to our neighbours in England.
"Within this context and in the face of these hard facts, the board
has evolved the strategy that
the club, financially, has to adopt a self-sustaining model.
"In plain words, we have to live within our means. We cannot spend money that we don't have. This is the only way to discharge our fundamental duty to protect the future of this great club.
"Despite all of this, we share the fans' disappointment over
the failure to qualify for the group stages of the UEFA Champions League this year. Obviously,
we work very hard to employ
the funds we have to allow
the manager and the team
to produce the best football results they can.
"We do our utmost to acquire the best players we can within our financial constraints and
the manager and the football operation use their best efforts to develop these players along with the talented players produced
by our Youth Academy."
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