LONDON, England (AFP) — Brighton posted an English Premier League (EPL) record £122.8-million profit after tax last season thanks to the club’s best-ever season on the pitch and a series of lucrative player sales.

The Seagulls qualified for Europe for the first time by finishing sixth in the EPL and also reached the FA Cup semi-finals to help revenue rise to £204.5 million.

That was despite losing manager Graham Potter to Chelsea, who also signed Marc Cucurella from Brighton for a reported £60 million.

Yves Bissouma’s move to Tottenham and Alexis Mac Allister’s transfer to Liverpool contributed to Brighton’s £144-million gain on player sales.

The figures for the 12 months to June 30, 2023 do not include Moises Caicedo’s British transfer record £115 million move to Chelsea as it came after the accounting period.

The club also announced on Tuesday highly rated chief executive Paul Barber has signed a new contract until 2030.

“These accounts will of course catch the eye, because of the headline number,” Barber said in a club statement.

“In a season when we made history on the pitch we took a huge step forward in terms of the club’s long-held aim of becoming more sustainable and less reliant on [owner] Tony Bloom’s incredibly generous levels of investment.”

The interest-free loan owed to boyhood Brighton fan and professional gambler Bloom, who also owns Belgian side Union Saint-Gilloise, has been reduced from £406.5 million to £373.3 million.

Brighton boss Roberto De Zerbi has been linked with taking over at Liverpool and Bayern Munich next season.

But Barber said Brighton remain ambitious to get back into Europe and winning the club’s first-ever major trophy.

“The dream is to be regularly challenging for a European place and for silverware. We are very proud of Roberto, the work he and his staff have done, and of course the performance levels of our squad,” he said.

Brighton sit ninth in the Premier League with nine games remaining this season.

Tuesday’s EPL results:

Newcastle 1, Everton 1

Nottingham Forest 3, Fulham 1

Bournemouth 1, Crystal Palace 0

Burnley 1, Wolverhampton 1

West Ham 1, Tottenham 1