SAINTS made a loss of £700,000 in the halfyear ending December 2007 - despite selling players for £9.1m.

The accounts which cover the six months to the end of last year - released at almost the same time as the notice of an impending EGM - revealed Saints continue to remain in deep financial trouble.

They were losing money at the rate of over £38,000 A DAY.

Only the sales of players such as Kenwyne Jones, and Chris Baird offset the problem temporarily.

Now the club is losing £3,800 every day.

The headline figures show that while revenue dropped from £12.8m to £7.1m, the company's loss after tax fell to £0.7m.

But that was largely due to the transfers of Baird to Fulham, Leon Best to Coventry, Jones to Sunderland and Pele to West Brom.

The club has received a further £2.5m in payments since the accounting period ended.

Saints still has some £6.4m to come in fees for players who have been sold by way of instalments, and all these will be paid by August.

In the same period where Saints brought in £9.1m, they also splashed out £2.7m in bringing in Marek Saganowksi on a permanent transfer, Youssef Safri from Norwich, Wayne Thomas from Burnley, Stern John from Sunderland and Jason Euell from Middlesbrough.

The difference between selling players and buying new ones was a £6.4m.

Not only has all that been swallowed up, but the club have lost a further £700,000 as well - a total financial loss of £7.1m over six months.

  • That works out at an astonishing £1,183,333.33p loss per MONTH.
  • It's a loss of £272,328.77p per WEEK.
  • And a loss of £38,904.11p per DAY.

Spending on the squad increased the players and coaches' wages from £4.9m to £6.1m - despite the club no longer being in receipt of the Premiership parachute payment.

The club's income from all quarters was falling.

Matchday income was down from £5.8m to £3.9m and broadcasting income down from £4.0m to £1.4m.

Commercial income was down £2.9m to £1.9m, of which the retail division saw a hit of £500,000.

Administrative expenses were cut from £3.3m to 2.7m - this cost included the pay-offs given to former PLC chairman Ken Dulieu, chief executive Jim Hone and commercial director Andy Oldknow.

All three of them resigned in December after SISU, the London-based hedge fund they were keen to see takeover Saints, turned their attentions to Coventry instead.

As expected, one of the biggest impacts on the accounts was the end of the parachute payment which Saints no longer qualify for having been out of the Premiership for more than two seasons.

That was £6.7m but the club now receive a solidarity payment of £1.3m - of which £0.65m was in the six-monthly accounts.

Even though the figures reveal the club is heavily overdrawn - £5.8m compared to £0.3m the previous year - it retains the full support of the bank.

The report reads: "The Board confirms that it is working closely with, and has the support of, its bankers."

Also in the report it states that Lee Hoos, who had been acting chief executive since the departure of Hone, is now a permanent appointment.

It also makes mention of the current investment talks but again states these are at an early stage.

For the full story, see today's Daily Echo.