Tottenham Hotspur posts record year profit

LONDON (Reuters) - English Premier League soccer club Tottenham Hotspur posted a record full-year pretax profit, boosted by a player trading profit of 56.5 million pounds.

The north London club, known as Spurs, said on Tuesday it made a profit before tax of 33.4 million pounds in the year to June 30, up from 3 million pounds in the previous year, on revenue down 1.6 percent at 113 million pounds.

However, profit from operations excluding player trading and before restructuring and depreciation charges fell 31 percent to 24.1 million pounds.

Spurs finished in eighth place in the Premier League in the 2008/09 season and reached the final of the Carling Cup. They currently stand fourth in the Premier League's 2009/10 season.

It said funds generated from the sale of players such as Dimitar Berbatov and Paul Robinson were re-invested in buying the likes of Peter Crouch and the re-signing of Robbie Keane.

Chairman Daniel Levy said the club had three key priorities -- investment in the first team, a new training centre and an increased capacity state-of-the-art new stadium.

"We have assembled what we believe to be one of the most talented squads we have had during our time in the Premier League, the ground is being turned and pitches laid for the new training centre at Bulls Cross in Enfield and we have submitted a planning application for a stunning new stadium on a site next to our existing stadium," he said.

Shares in Tottenham were up 0.25 pence at 74.5 pence at 8:17 a.m. The firm has a market capitalisation of about 200 million pounds if convertible shares are included.

(Reporting by James Davey; Editing by Greg Mahlich)