Healthy pre-tax profits put Wolves back in black

English Premier League soccer club Wolverhampton Wanderers, which is owned by Chinese conglomerate Fosun, has announced pre-tax profits of 19.96 million pounds ($25.7 million) for last season, a major turnaround from 2018 when the club recorded a 55.15 million-pound loss.

Turnover for the year ending May 2019 was 172.5 million pounds, up from 26.4 million pounds in 2018, according to financial information released this week by the club, which is commonly called Wolves.

The majority of the gains came from Premier League payouts, which the club did not enjoy in the previous season when the team played in English soccer's second tier. The club also received a financial boost from increased match attendance last season.

Season ticket holders increased to the maximum available of 22,500, up from 21,233 in 2018, and the average league attendance rose to 31,030, compared to 28,298 the previous season.

"Moving forwards, the aim of the board is for the club to become consistent contenders for qualification to European competition, which will be achieved through continued application of the footballing philosophy applied throughout the 2018/19 season, with strategic enhancements to the playing squad and development of academy players," the club said in a statement.

Fosun bought Wolves for 45 million pounds in 2016. Two years later, the team achieved promotion to the Premier League after substantial investment in new players and the shrewd appointment of Portuguese manager Nuno Espirito Santo.

Wolves are also currently playing in the Europa League, a major international club competition, having qualified through their strong finish in the Premier League last year.

"The directors have a continued commitment to continuously improving the club, from both a footballing and a wider operational and strategic perspective," the club statement said of the executive board at Wolves, which includes its chairman, Jeff Shi, who is also head of Fosun Sports Group.

With 12 games remaining this season, Wolves are currently eighth out of 20 teams in the Premier League, as well as being in the Europa League knock-out stages.

"It's really exciting, we've never been in European knock-out football in my lifetime," Luke Regan, former presenter for digital fanzine Wolves Fancast, told China Daily. "The Fosun picture generally is quite strong. Wolves are still very popular; the fans are very much behind the club and they feel that Fosun are supporting them in an appropriate manner."

Regan said that references to the club's foreign ownership have been largely well-received by fans.

"We are a British club with a Chinese element to it now," he said. "The fans got behind the Chinese New Year stuff, as well as the banner for Wuhan at the last home game."

At a recent home game, the club put up signage in support of Wuhan, the Chinese city at the center of the ongoing novel coronavirus outbreak.

"Some fans are still getting used to the Chinese connection, but others are happy with it and the support sometimes goes beyond the club," said Regan.

"For example, I am a rep for an alcohol company, and I can tell you that Tsingtao has become big in Wolverhampton, it's way more popular and available than it was before," Regan added, in reference to the Chinese beer brand.