Arsenal Football Club has revealed that its profits last season increased to nearly £37m, although there was also a rise in the club's debts.

The announcement of Arsenal's financial results came on the same day that the US billionaire Stan Kroenke had joined the board as a non-executive director at the London-based club. Reporting its results for the year ending 31 May, the club said that the cost of borrowing £133.5m to redevelop the former Highbury stadium had contributed to the rise in its debts, which now stand at £318m. But the club said that it expected that figure to fall with the sale of the 680 properties at the Highbury Square development.

Arsenal chair, Peter Hill-Wood, said: "The strong financial position which the group has established, as confirmed by the results for the year, provides the best possible platform from which to deliver success for the long-term. "We are committed to operating the club as a business which is financially self-sustaining, and over the last two seasons, Emirates Stadium has taken our football revenues to a new level."

Meanwhile, Hill-Wood said that the appointment of Kroenke to the board was motivated by a desire to gain his valuable experience in sports marketing, media rights and real estate development. Kroenke's US firm, Kroenke Sports Enterprises (KSE), currently owns the Denver Nuggest basketball franchise, the Colorado Avalanche ice hockey team, and Major League Soccer club, Colorado Rapids.