Scottish football giants Celtic today announced a decrease in turnover of almost 23% for the six months to the end of 2009.
The Glasgow club, in which businessman Dermot Desmond has a stake, revealed in its interim results a turnover of £36.11m sterling, down 22.8% on the £46.8m the same time the previous year.
Profits before taxation were down from £8.36m to £1.27m, while bank debt more than trebled from £0.97m to £3.13m.
Celtic chairman John Reid blamed the results on the club's failure to qualify for the group stages of the lucrative Champions League as well as 'more difficult trading conditions'.
'A year ago I reported on a very positive set of interim results,' commented the Celtic Chairman. 'This reflected good trading conditions, three recent Scottish Premier League Championships and participation in the Group Stage of the UEFA Champions League as Scotland's sole representative,' he said.
'I said then that football and commercial success went hand in hand. This year's report confirms that assertion. It certainly reflects different, more difficult trading conditions, and it is plain that like other commercial concerns we are affected by the recession,' he added.
But he said that despite the absence of Champions League participation, over 50,000 season tickets have been sold and the club's merchandising business is holding up well.
