EVERTON chairman Bill Kenwright has targeted a return to Champions League qualification as the Goodison Park outfit’s primary objective after they announced a record club turnover of £75.7million.

David Moyes’s side shocked English football during the 2004/05 season when they broke into the top four just a year after finishing 17th in the Premier League with just 39 points.

Despite their subsequent controversial exit from the Champions League at the hands of Villarreal in the final qualification round, Kenwright is determined to see his club have another crack at European football’s elite competition.

After revealing their record turnover figures of £75.7m for 2008, an increase from £57.4m in 2007, Kenwright said: “It is, unquestionably, a measure of the steady progress which I feel our great club continues to make that last season’s final placing of fifth, in what remains Europe’s toughest league, was greeted with a combination of delight and slight disappointment.

“We have laid claim to a Champions League berth already during David Moyes’s tenure and we shall strive to do it again; that is what all of us want – that remains our primary, non-negotiable objective.”

He added: “As is invariably the case, the last 12 months somehow succeeded in producing a heady cocktail of highs and lows away from the field of play yet the one constant, the true steadying influence, was the performances of a team which continued to mature and grow in stature.

“As ever, David Moyes was fully supported, both by myself and my fellow directors – something which I have repeatedly stressed is absolutely crucial if we are to build a future that is both enduring and meaningful.”

Everton’s coffers were boosted by increased gate receipts of £20.5m, up by £3.4m on the previous year due mainly to the UEFA Cup run and progress to the Carling Cup semi-finals last season.

There was a £46.6m income from broadcasting, an increase from £27.5m due to the improved television deal for Premier League clubs and a £5.5m profit from sponsorship, up from £4.6m.

Although Everton’s wage bill increased from £38.4m to £44.5m, the wage bill percentage of the club’s turnover shrank from 75% to a more manageable 59%.

Maintenance costs increased from £51.9m to £68.8m and this was due to the European campaign, the move from Bellefield to a new state-of-the-art training complex at Finch Farm and the financial burden of keeping an ageing Goodison Park stadium up to Premier League standards with the latter totalling a sum of more than £1m. Although the club made an operating profit before player trading of £6.8m compared to a £500,000 loss the previous year, an increased amortisation of players’ registrations, totalling £12.3m from £10.4m, led to a total operating loss of £5.5m compared to £10.9m in 2007.

The club’s borrowing increased to £39.5m from £29.2m, reflecting investment in the playing squad of £23.1m (£24m in 2007) but repayment is not due for more than five years.

Overall this means that Everton’s net debt stands at £36.8m, an increase of £10.4m from last year’s figure of £26.4m.

Speaking on Moyes’s ventures into the transfer market, Kenwright added: “In successive seasons we have secured the funds to exceed the previous club transfer record and I feel certain that the investment of £15m on the 20-year-old Belgian international Marouane Fellaini (now 21) will come to represent sound and sensible business in the years ahead.

“Our determination to ensure that our first-team squad is constantly upgraded has had an effect on the club’s balance sheet but, as ever, we have benefited from what I would call sensible and careful fiscal management during a period which was, in pure financial terms, hugely challenging.”