Virgil Van Dijk sale leads to Celtic profits of near £12m

Celtic have announced pre-tax profits of almost £12m for the first half of the season but acknowledged they are mainly due to selling defender Virgil van Dijk.

In interim results for the second half of 2015, published on the London Stock Exchange website, chairman Ian Bankier reported a profit before taxation of £11.7m and with net cash in the bank of £7.7m.

Bankier said Celtic's failure to qualify for the Champion League has contributed to a "frustrating" current season although pre-tax profits are up from £6.6m from the same period in 2014.

Dutch stopper Van Dijk was sold to Southampton for a fee reported to be between £11.5m and £13m last summer.

Bankier said: "On the park, it has been a frustrating season. We are top of the Scottish Premiership and in the sixth round of the Scottish Cup but we fell short in the SPFL League Cup, being knocked out in the semi-final.

"In the European competitions, we were unable to progress beyond the group stages of the UEFA Europa League, having not qualified for the group stages of the UEFA Champions League."

Bankier added: "Our profit on disposal of intangible assets of £12.6m (2014: £7.1m) largely reflects the transfer of the registration of Virgil Van Dijk to Southampton.

"Over the same period we reinvested in the playing squad, with £6.1m expended (2014: £5.7m) on the registrations of Scott Allan, Logan Bailly, Carlton Cole, Ryan Christie, Nadir Ciftci, Saidy Janko and Jozo Simunovic.

"Subsequently, during the 2016 January transfer window, further investment has been made with the signing of Danish international Erik Sviatchenko and Turkish international Colin Kazim-Richards."

The Hoops chairman reiterated that the board's strategy "is unchanged" but stressed that any ambitions would have to be achieved within "financial constraints".

He said: "Our overwhelming priority is to win the SPFL Premiership and to qualify for the group stages of the UEFA Champions League.

"Our performance in Europe this season has been the cause of considerable frustration.

"The challenge has been to maintain a settled and winning squad throughout the summer months when the crucial Champions League qualifying matches are played, to manage the player changes during the summer transfer window and then to kick on when the new season begins.

"Each season we meet this challenge within the financial constraints of where we sit in Scottish football, for to do otherwise would be reckless."