Dortmund post dividend

In the 2012-13 season, German football powerhouse Borussia Dortmund netted a record profit of 53 million euros ($71 million), on the back of similarly unique sales to the tune of 305 million euros, the club's Chief Executive Hans-Joachim Watzke told a shareholders' meeting on Monday.

The result meant that Germany's only publicly-listed football club was just 25 percent behind giants Bayern Munich last season, Watzke said.

The boost in profit by 86 percent came primarily from the transfer of Germany international Mario Götze, who had been sold to Bayern Munich for a record sum of 40 million euros, he added.

Last season, once-heavily indebted Borussia Dortmund were runners-up to Bavarian outfit Bayern in the Bundesliga and lost the UEFA Champions League final to their biggest rivals.

CEO Watzke said that sales were also boosted by higher earnings from television rights, which had jumped from 27 million euros to 87 million euros on the previous season, as well as by 32 million euros in merchandising revenue, up by 9 million euros.

For the past fiscal year, shareholders would receive a dividend of 10 cents per share - 4 cents higher than in the year before - as the club had managed to pay back all of its debt, he added.

According to club leaders, Dortmund will continue investing in a sustainable development of the team, which was currently reflected in higher costs for player salaries. However, Dortmund's outlay for that purpose, to the tune of 77 million euros, was still less than half the amount its rivals Bayern spent on players' salaries, the club noted.

uhe/ph (dpa, Reuters)