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Arsenal report £44.6m pre-tax profit for 2016-17 fiscal year

Arsenal made a pre-tax profit of £44.6 million in the most recent fiscal year despite a record outlay on transfer fees and higher salary costs.

The club released their full financial statement for the 2016-17 fiscal year on Thursday, saying total revenues had grown by more than £70m to £424m, mainly because of the increased income from the Premier League's new TV rights deal.

However, the club's cash reserves decreased to £180.1m from £226.5m the previous year, mainly as a result of spending more than £100m in the transfer market. And nearly £80m of that was set aside for paying off existing debt and previous transfers.

"We are well-placed to compete on the highest levels on and off the pitch, both in the short and longer term," chief executive Ivan Gazidis said.

Gazidis highlighted that Arsenal's net spend on transfers over the past three seasons -- not including this summer -- reached £203m, including a club record £103m last year, when they bought Granit Xhaka, Shkodran Mustafi and Lucas Perez.

Chairman Chips Keswich also touted that spending in the statement -- possibly as a retort to fans who were upset that Arsenal finished this summer's transfer window with a hefty profit after selling Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, Wojciech Szczesny, Gabriel Paulista and Kieran Gibbs.

Gazidis also said the club had achieved their major aims in the summer transfer window by adding Alexandre Lacazette and Sead Kolasinac, while retaining Mesut Ozil and Alexis Sanchez and trimming the wage bill with outgoings.

"These decisions, taken as a whole, have again strengthened our squad for this season's competitions," Gazidis said.

Arsenal's total wage bill only increased by £4m to £199.4m, as the absence of Champions League bonuses kept it largely in line with the previous year.

This was the first year that Arsenal's revenues broke the £400m mark, thanks largely to a £58m increase in TV money.

The financial results also showed that:

-- The annual ammortisation payments on player transfers increased to £77.1m, from £59.2m.

-- Arsenal made £6.9m in loan fees, including those for Jack Wilshere, Szczesny, Calum Chambers and Joel Campbell.

-- The cash reserves available for transfers or other outlays was only £101.6m after money was taken out for debt service and existing transfer payments. That's down from £148.6m the previous year.