Sussex are closing in on signing a “high-profile” overseas player for the NatWest Twenty20 Blast after reporting encouraging results in their yearly accounts.

The county made an operating surplus of £122,000 in 2014 compared to a loss of £103,000 the previous year thanks largely to an increase in non-matchday income.

That profit came despite not having the bumper windfall of £235,000 from hosting the Australians at Hove in 2013 with the Twenty20 clash against Sri Lanka last summer bringing in considerably less.

Sussex have already used the increased revenue to invest in their squad for the coming season with the acquisitions of fast bowlers Tymal Mills and Ajmal Shahzad along with the addition of Jon Lewis to the coaching ranks.

The Sharks are keen to improve their fortunes in the NatWest T20 Blast having failed to make the knockout stages for the past two seasons and are set to sign a proven international player for this year’s tournament.

Chairman Jim May said: “You are always wary of counting your chickens but we are in quite decent shape. We had some significant factors to contend with last season with the change in the domestic structure and not having the benefit of the Australia game so to come out with a surplus is very pleasing.

“To be successful on the pitch you need to be successful off it and the work that has been done to improve our non-matchday income has allowed us to invest significantly in the playing squad.

“We have signed up virtually all the players from last year for an extended period and have brought in some exciting players in the shape of Tymal and Ajmal.

“We are still planning to sign an overseas player for Twenty20 and expect to announce a high-profile international player at some point which is only possible thanks to our good financial management.”

While Sussex reported an operating surplus the final figure in the accounts was a deficit of £418,000 after taking into account depreciation of the club’s assets, chiefly the redeveloped County Ground.

Income was up from £5.4 million to £5.7 million with most of that driven by a 38% increase in commercial income with non-matchday income up 15% to £498,000.

The club remains debt free despite spending heavily on ground improvements in recent years and still has more than £1 million in the bank left over from Spen Cama’s legacy.

The main area of concern was that average attendances were down last season and total membership has fallen by 10%, although early signs show an improvement for this summer.