Dortmund see 2014-15 turnover rise by 15 million euros

BERLIN (Reuters) - Borussia Dortmund boosted their turnover for the fiscal year 2014-15 to 276 million euros ($311.47 million), up by more than 15 million from a year earlier, despite an early Champions League elimination last season, the club said on Friday. Earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) also grew to 55 million euros ($62.07 million) up from 49 million a year earlier, club CEO Hans-Joachim Watzke told a news conference. "We managed to make a decent year out of last season's horror season," Watzke told reporters. "When you do not have debts anymore and have cash, about 50 million euros, in the bank, then you do not want to compete with a bank who has more cash. You have to improve your competitiveness." "That means we want to increase our budget in the coming years. We will, however, never have one euro debt again," he said. Dortmund, Germany's only publicly traded soccer club, were on the brink of bankruptcy in 2005, but have since recovered to become the country's second-richest club behind heavyweights Bayern Munich, who have a turnover of about half a billion euros. Net profit dropped to 5.5 million euros versus 12 million a year ago also due to one-off payments for loan liabilities of 4.3 million. Watzke said despite a round of 16 Champions League exit and a seventh place in the Bundesliga last season, the results showed Dortmund remained a strong brand. "Our aim is to return to the Champions League, no easy feat with this national competition," he said. Watzke said competing in the Europa League this season would make up for some of the losses of missing out on the lucrative Champions League, with Dortmund selling out the vast majority of every home game. He also expected broadcasting rights to increase in the coming years, benefitting the club further. (Reporting by Karolos Grohmann; editing by Sudipto Ganguly)