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MADRID

Real Madrid slash net debt as profits soar

Days after splashing over €90 million ($118.5 million) for the services of Gareth Bale, Real Madrid have announced a rise in profits and a 27.4 percent reduction in their net debt in their accounts for the 2012/13 season.

Real Madrid slash net debt as profits soar
Photo:AFP

The Spanish giants saw their income continue to grow as revenue rose to €520.9 million, up 1.3 percent on last year's record breaking total that saw a football club earn more than €500 million for the first time ever.

Net profit also grew a staggering 52.4 percent from 24.2 to €36.9 million as costs were stabilised during a relatively quiet time in the transfer market last year when Luka Modric was their only major purchase.

And that profit allowed for a significant reduction in the net debt from 124.7 to €90.6 million.

Those figures don't even include a lucrative new shirt sponsorship deal with Fly Emirates worth €29 million a year which came into effect at the beginning of the current season.

On top of the capture of Bale, Real spent just short of €70 million on the young Spanish duo of Isco and Asier Illarramendi earlier in the transfer window.

However, the club also recouped around 100 million euros in sales over the past few months as Mesut Ozil joined Arsenal on transfer deadline day and Gonzalo Higuain, Raul Albiol and Jose Maria Callejon all moved to Napoli back in July.

Kaka's decision to leave Madrid to rejoin AC Milan also eased the Spanish side's wage bill as they were relieved of his €10 million net salary for the final year of his deal.

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OFFBEAT

Madrid police end escaped camels’ night on the town

Eight camels and a llama took to the streets of Madrid overnight after escaping from a nearby circus, Spanish police said on Friday.

A camel in a zoo
A file photo of a camel in a zoo. Photo: ATTILA KISBENEDEK / AFP

It was not immediately clear how the long-legged runaways managed to get out but Quiros Circus, which owns them, blamed sabotage by animal rights activists.

They were spotted at around 5:00 am wandering around the southern district of Carabranchel close to where the circus is currently based.

“Various camels and a llama escaped from a circus in Madrid overnight,” Spain’s national police wrote on Twitter, sharing images of eight two-humped camels and a llama hanging around a street corner.

“Police found them and took care of them so they could be taken back safe and sound,” they tweeted.

There was no word on whether the rogue revellers, who are known for spitting, put up any resistance when the police moved in to detain them.

Mati Munoz, one of the circus’ managers, expressed relief the furry fugitives — Bactrian camels who have two humps and thick shaggy coats – had been safely caught.

“Nothing happened, thank God,” he told AFP, saying the circus had filed a complaint after discovering the electric fence around the animals’ enclosure had been cut.

“We think (their escape) was due to an act of sabotage by animal rights groups who protest every year.”

Bactrian camels (camelus bactrianus) come from the rocky deserts of central and eastern Asia and have an extraordinary ability to survive in extreme conditions.

These days, the vast majority of them are domesticated.

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