Saints are set to report a profit for the first time since the era of administration.

The club’s improved financial position will be reflected in their latest accounts, which are due to be filed next week.

They will show that Saints recorded a profit of £33.4m on ordinary activities after tax, for the year ending June 30, 2014.

That is compared to the £6.5m loss displayed in 2012/13.

Chief executive Gareth Rogers told the Daily Echo: “I’m very satisfied with the profitable performance and the strength of the balance sheet – it’s the first time we’ve been in profit and positive net assets, which is the strength of the company, since administration in 2009.”

Saints' accounts show good news off the pitch as well as on it.

Saints are also set to reveal plenty of other good news in the accounts.

The club saw their revenue increase from £71.8m in 2012/13 to £106.1m in 2013/14.

That was as a result of the improved television deal coming into effect, which saw broadcast income jump from £46.9m to £79.4m.

Encouragingly, their wages-to-turnover ratio dropped once again, to 59.3 per cent, from 65.5 per cent.

That improvement actually occurred alongside a significant investment in staffing, with numbers growing from 230 to 282, along with approximately 585 temporary workers on matchdays.

Saints’ total group wage bill, including players, is set to be announced as £55.2m, up from £41.4m.

There was also an improvement in operating costs compared to turnover, with that ratio improving to 78.2 per cent from 88 per cent.

Elsewhere, profit before player trading increased to £25.3m from £8.6m, while commercial income has also risen, from £6.7m to £8.3m.

In terms of the cost of their revamped training ground, Saints have now spent in excess of £25m, with the final figure expected to amount to about £38m when all phases are complete.

“We’re working hard to get robust, good quality, key performance indicators, such as wages ratio, such as turnover, such as growth in commercial assets and commercial revenues in order to set that business up for the future and create what we believe is a sustainable business model, because that’s the way the club has to operate and needs to operate in order to compete going forward,” said Rogers.

Saints chairman Ralph Krueger and owner Katharina Liebherr.

There are areas that the club have identified as still being in need of significant improvement, however.

“What we can’t do is shy away from the fact that there is a significant debt sitting on the club, because of what’s been built and the past decisions the club has made, and we can’t get away from that,” Rogers explained.

“It is absolutely there and, therefore, we have to have some strong disciplines, we have to have some strong governance and strong management leadership in order to bring that debt down over the forthcoming years, because we don’t want to be carrying this type of debt.

“Whilst it may fluctuate in the next year or so, as things still unwind from management decisions in the past, it has to be controlled and it has to be looked after as we go into the future.

“We talk an awful lot about sustainability. Well, sustainability is about being here in 15, 20, 30, 40 years time and managing that debt is part of that.”

Owner Katharina Liebherr injected a £14.7m loan during the year, while there is also a £14.5m loan, which she has secured against her estate and not the club.

The loan taken out in September 2012 from the Vibrac company will stand at £19m in the accounts, but since June 30 Liebherr has contributed a further £20m loan herself that will replace that and be used to fund previous player trading and capital spending.

That takes her overall exposure to about the £50m mark.

Rogers explained that Saints have a “robust plan” to address that debt they are carrying.

If there is an encouraging aspect to it, though, it is in the commitment that Liebherr has shown, and continues to show, towards the club.

Luke Shaw was one of the Saints stars sold for big money last summer.

Saints made a significant profit on player sales last summer – the accounts will show about £32m, not including the money received for Adam Lallana, Dejan Lovren and Calum Chambers, which came after the reporting date – but Rogers revealed that all of that money was ploughed back into the club at Liebherr’s insistence.

“All of that profit was reinvested through transfer fees, through wages and then there’s ancillary costs that often get neglected – there’s obviously agents fees, but also there’s a Premier League levy [of four per cent], which you have to pay on every transfer,” he said.

“When we talk about that debt that we had, there was an opportunity in the summer for the owner to turn round and say ‘You’ve made that significant profit, you’ve made all this cash, I want to clear my debt out and move it out the business,’ but actually she did the opposite.

“She put an additional £20m in to cover legacy issues, to create the debt that you will see in the year-end accounts, and, in addition, she allowed us to invest all of those funds in order to be able to strengthen the team and to put us in the position that we are today, and it shows that commitment Katharina has to the club.

“We made a significant amount of cash in the summer, but a decision was taken by her, in conjunction with the board, to say our advice is to strengthen the team and to strengthen the squad such that we have a competitive team for the forthcoming season and the results are absolutely borne out on the pitch and she couldn’t remain more delighted with how we’ve performed.”

Former Saints chairman Nicola Cortese.

Rogers would not discuss the “legacy issues” he mentioned any deeper, but did speak about some of the work the board have conducted since former chairman Nicola Cortese departed in January 2014.

Cortese was in situ for the first half of this reporting period, with the accounts set to show he was paid close to £450,000 in compensation for loss of office.

“If you look at what’s happened over the past 14, 15 months, there’s a real solidification of the club, in order to put us on a fantastic footing to really grow in the future years, but the past year of the club, and to extent the next year as a whole, is still that process – we’re still in that process,” said Rogers.

“Whilst we are having fantastic success on the pitch, we’re still solidifying the business off that, in terms of the legacy debt that sits there.”

He added: “The infrastructure of the club has undertaken a significant overhaul in order to really, really set us on a solid footing in order to grow the club both on and off the pitch.”

Rogers stressed there is absolutely no financial pressure to sell players this summer, although he would not discuss any specifics of transfer budgets and so on.

“But in terms of the commitment and what we want to try and achieve, it’s absolutely to continue our success and to keep at the top side of the Premier League,” he said, adding there are already plans in place for the scenarios of qualifying for the Champions League, Europa League, or missing out altogether.

“What we won’t do is we won’t sit here on the 24th of May and go ‘Right, what do we do next?’ because that’s not the way we run the business.”

Chairman Ralph Krueger has spoken regularly of the need to significantly improve the commercial strength of the club, and Rogers hopes the accounts will start to show significant strides in that area in a few years’ time, admitting they are still lagging behind many clubs, including some Championship ones.

“You look at what you can achieve and you look at our peers both in the Championship and in the Premier League, they are significantly ahead of us,” he said.

“Some of those clubs I believe that we should at least be on a par with, and, therefore, we need to work hard to match and to come up with those deals.

“Whilst commercially we absolutely want to grow, it’s not something that happens overnight.

“If you’re trying to sign long-term, significant contracts, they take a long time.

“If you’re asking people to invest millions into a club, you have to go through an awful lot of hurdles in order to be able to achieve that and, therefore, we expect to really see the benefits of that coming through 16/17, 17/18, 18/19 rather than immediately in the next financial year, which is 15/16.”

Rogers added: “One of the biggest things we wanted to do was to build the staff numbers up and to build the strength of the club in order to be able to get that commercial growth, in order to be able to be progressive, to nurture our talent, push those boundaries – always trying to get things better each day.

“That’s really been one of the biggest challenges, actually getting that strength of the staff back into the club.

“One of those things is the attention to detail that goes in every aspect of the club and there are many, many things that we still need to change, improve, look upon and get better at – but we never stop doing that.

“We’re always trying to push the boundaries, we’re always trying to get better, and that’s part of the DNA of the club.”

Chief executive Gareth Rogers.

As a result, Rogers is confident Saints are on the right track, and is adamant that it is possible to produce a sustainable business that can also support a team that thrives on the pitch.

“We absolutely believe it,” he said.

SAINTS’ FINANCIAL HIGHLIGHTS 2013/14

• Profit on ordinary activities after tax was £33.4m, compared to a £6.5m loss in 2012/13. This is the first full-year profit recorded since administration in 2009.

• Total net assets were £31.8m, up from -£1.6m.

• Revenue has increased to £106.1m from £71.8m – a rise of 47.8%.

• Broadcast revenue has increased to £79.4m from £46.9m.

• Commercial income has increased to £8.3m from £6.7m.

• Matchday income has increased to £17.1m from £16.8m.

• Profit before player trading increased to £25.3m from £8.7m. Player trading included an exceptional cost of £6.2m relating to the impairment of player registrations.

• Since June 30, player trading has amounted to £12.6m payable to other clubs.

• Total group wages, including players, increased to £55.2m from £41.4m Staff numbers grew from 230 to 282 (with approximately 585 temporary staff on matchdays)

• Wages to turnover ratio is 59.3%, down from 65.5%

• Operating costs to turnover ratio is 78.2%, down from 88%.

• Net current liabilities of £28.2m, down from £52.6m.

• Training ground expenditure stands in excess of £25m. Expected total once all phases are complete is £38m.

• Katharina Liebherr provided a loan of £14.7m in the financial year.

• The club also held a loan facility, secured against her estate and not the club, for £14.5m.

• A loan with Vibrac, taken out in September 2012, amounts to £19m.

• Katharina Liebherr has injected a further loan of £20m since June 2014.