Rangers faced Manchester United in the Champions League

The Scottish champions announced pre-tax profits of �2.4m to 31 December - the loss in 2002 having been �10m.

Turnover jumped 29% to �33.7m, largely thanks to the Champions League.

Rangers chair John McClelland said: "Having a squad who can get into Europe next season is very important, not only from a financial point of view."

Massive debts forced the club to sell players during the summer and, having brought in older and cheaper replacements, they now lie 13 points behind Glasgow rivals Celtic in the Scottish title race.

The increased turnover was due to "the beneficial impact that Champions League football has had and the continuing strength of our retail operations".

There is no reason for any major players to leave Rangers chair John McClelland

Rangers were knocked out in December, finishing bottom of their group, which also included Manchester United, Stuttgart and Panathinaikos.

And McClelland aims to release funds to manager McLeish to ensure a more concerted effort next time round.

"Undoubtedly, it's a great competition to be in and that victory against Copenhagen made a difference, not only in terms of being back in Champions League football again, where we want to be, but financially as well," he said.

"We would bring in some players in the summer. Alex is looking at that and there are some players from a contractual point of view who could stay or move on."

Rangers have already secured French defender Jean-Alain Boumsong on a pre-contract agreement and he will join the Ibrox club on a free transfer when he leaves Auxerre in the summer.

"Jean-Alain is a Bosman, but he is the sort of player a year or two ago that you would probably have paid �5-10m," he said.

"So if there are players of that calibre and no transfer fee then we're certainly in the market for those players and we believe that, within the budgets we have in place that drive the financial performance further forward, that we can afford the kind of wages that would attract good players to Rangers.

"There is no reason for any major players to leave - certainly no financial reason - and we want to add to the squad rather than subtract from it."

Speaking of the latest financial results, McClelland added: "The main thing was to stop adding to the debt and that we have done by starting to record, in this case for the six months, a small profit. It's a step toward stabilising the debt."