Barcelona's failure win La Liga helped them post a record 48.8 million euro profit for the 2011-12 season, vice-president for economic affairs Javier Faus said on Friday. After two consecutive years of financial losses, and three consecutive league titles, Barca were beaten to the top spot in Spain by Real Madrid in May but avoided having to pay out 12 million euros in win bonuses. "If we had won La Liga the overall surplus would have been 36 million euros and it would still have been the best end-of-year figure in the history of the Club," Faus said. The Catalans increased their income 21.5 million euros to 494.9 million, while cutting back on expenditure which fell to 441.1 million euros, 31.5 million less than the previous year, exceeding budget forecasts. Faus said the profit, which had been achieved without the sale of club assets, would be used to continue reducing the club's total debt, which has been cut to 335 million euros from 420 million two years ago. The increased revenues was helped by "spectacular" ticket sales, an improved ticketing system, and sales from their Nike and club megastore. Cost savings had come from outsourcing of BarcaTV and loaning out players among other things, while rescinding the contracts of unwanted players such as Keirrison, Aleksandr Hleb and Henrique had had a negative impact on the accounts. Salaries had been slightly reduced to 298 million euros. "It's difficult to reduce this figure further, we're working to maintain stability," said Faus. (For more sports news and updates, follow Ahram Online Sports on Twitter at @AO Sports and on Facebook at AhramOnlineSports)
