Saints made a net profit of just under £1m in their first six months back in the Premier League.

Revenue, under the guidance of executive chairman Nicola Cortese, trebled during the period from July to December 2012 to over £33m – compared to a turnover of under £9m for the whole 12 months up to June 2009.

Turnover for the 2010/11 financial year, when Saints won promotion from the third tier of English season, was only £13.37m.

Those figures highlight the huge financial advantages to being part of the most-watched league in the world.

Total investment since the Markus Liebherr takeover in 2009 is nearly £38m, and it is a figure that is effectively written off by the estate of the late owner.

Southampton FC was bought by DMWSL 613 Limited back in July 2009, when Liebherr rescued the club from possible extinction.

Saints’ parent company Southampton Leisure Holdings PLC had entered administration the previous April.

On Liebherr’s death in August 2010, the ownership of the shares held in DMWSL 613 Limited’s name passed into probate, which is where it still remains to this day.

Cortese, who paid out around £5.3m in player and staff bonuses on winning promotion to the Premier League, has done well to get the wages paid to turnover ratio to 59 per cent.

That is a huge improvement on previous regimes at St Mary’s.

In the 12 months to the financial year ending June 2008, Saints’ wagebill spiralled to a ridiculous 81 per cent of turnover – up from 45 per cent for the financial year ending June 2007.

Huge salaries were given to players who were struggling to keep the club in the Championship, and that was part of the reason for Saints’ financial troubles which eventually led them down the road to administration.

The full set of Southampton FC accounts, covering the 2011/12 season in the Championship, are yet to be revealed.

The club have until the end of this month to lodge them at Companies House.