Kenyon feels it's on track despite losses

News:Chelsea's chief executive, Peter Kenyon, said the Premier League club's long-term financial goal was still to break even by 2010 despite announcing a €100 million trading loss yesterday.

Kenyon's comments came as Chelsea's accounts for the year to June 2007 revealed their continuing dependence on the owner, Roman Abramovich. Despite recording a 25 per cent increase in turnover that puts them second only to Manchester United in the Premier League, the club's losses were reduced by only seven per cent and still stand at €100 million. In the 2004-'05 season Chelsea's loss was €185 million.

Abramovich has now spent €765 million on Chelsea in four and a half years and Kenyon conceded that the goal of breaking even by 2010 was a challenging one. "The 2010 break-even is ambitious," he said. "I don't think it's something we are postponing but it's always been ambitious. We are determined to meet it.

"We have expanded globally as a club, we have reduced our salaries as percentage of turnover, we have continued to be successful on the field, we have increased sponsorship revenue and we continue to invest in our academy and reduce our reliance on transfers."

Chelsea's group turnover, including media, sponsorship and match-day revenue, was €250 million, a record for the club, exceeding Arsenal's most recent comparable figure of €226 million but trailing Manchester United's €280 million.

The club's runs to the League Cup and FA Cup finals as well as the Champions League semi-finals boosted media and match-day revenues, and the accounts also reflect the first year of the new Adidas kit sponsorship deal.

Transfer outgoings were also down. Kenyon said the club will enter into contract negotiations with key players, including Frank Lampard and Didier Drogba, during the summer but was "pretty sure" that they would not sign Ronaldinho.

"These figures once again demonstrate that Chelsea is growing in strength as a business and as a club," Kenyon said. "I am delighted there has been such large increases in the major income streams."

• Guardian Service