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For the second straight year, UApresents has posted a profitable season and a rosy outlook for the year ahead.

Sounding almost as if they had rewound the calendar to July 2007, officials with the University of Arizona arts presenter on Tuesday announced that it had ended the 2007-08 season $90,370 ahead and had pre-sold more than $1 million in tickets for the 2008-09 season.

This time last year, UApresents officials reported a $98,878 gain and advance sales nearing $1 million.

It's a far cry from 2005 and 2006, when UApresents was grappling with a bloated deficit that threatened to shut it down.

These days, agency officials gleefully tick off the nine shows from last season that sold out and pushed UApresents into its second successful season. Among the sellouts were Shaolin Warriors and David Sedaris in October, Itzhak Perlman in January, Jazz at Lincoln Center with Wynton Marsalis in February and "The Mikado" in April.

The 2007 profit came through a few solid hits, boosted by a bump in fundraising and internal belt-tightening.

UApresents spokesman Mario DiVetta said the layoffs last month of three UApresents employees did not figure into the season's bottom line. Those changes were part of the agency's reorganization efforts to improve efficiency and shore up itself in what many agree is a questionable economy.

Despite the recent economic downturn, ticket sales for next season have eclipsed pre-sales for last season by 12 percent. DiVetta said advance sales have topped 1,000 tickets for several shows, including the Joffrey Ballet and Pilobolus, Etta James and "An Evening With Patti LuPone and Mandy Patinkin."

Centennial Hall, where shows are staged, holds 2,400 people.

Sales also are brisk for classical acts, including violinist Nadja Salerno-Sonnenberg's recital with pianist Anne-Marie McDermott in January, and the Munich Symphony Orchestra in February.

"I think it's the quality of the programming," DiVetta said of sales. "Who doesn't want to see K.D. Lang, Etta James and the Joffrey Ballet? We're one of only four cities for the Joffrey. We're currently the only Arizona stop for Patti and Mandy."

Last season, UApresents staged 43 productions. This year's schedule has 36, and DiVetta said more could be added. Tickets are available online at www.uapresents.org.