Revenues continue to rise at Manchester United despite lack of Champions League football

Revenues rose by 5.9% to £80.4m at Manchester United over the last three months.

Despite the lack of Champions League football the club is continuing to lead the way in terms of revenue.

The club today announced its financial results for the 2020 fiscal first quarter ended 30 September 2019.

As part of the announcement the club announced it has agreed new long-term contracts with recent academy graduates, Mason Greenwood and Brandon Williams.

Both players have made a number of appearances in the first team in recent months.

Manchester United said it has agreed new partnerships with Visit Malta, Lego, Konami and Yabo Sport.

Over the course of the financial year the club is expecting to bring in revenues of £560 to £580m and have a total adjusted EBITDA of £155 to £165m.

Ed Woodward, executive vice chairman, said: “We have a clear vision in terms of football philosophy and recruitment.

“The significant investments that we have made in recent years in areas such as transfers, recruitment infrastructure, analytics and our academy are already beginning to bear fruit.

“We are very proud to be shortly approaching a milestone 4,000th game featuring an academy player, and we are particularly optimistic regarding the considerable young talent currently coming through.

“Our ultimate goal is to win trophies by playing exciting football with a team that fuses graduates from our academy with world-class acquisitions.”

Commercial revenue for the quarter was £80.4m, an increase of £4.5m, or 5.9%, over the prior year quarter.

Sponsorship revenue was £53.6m an increase of £4m, or 8.1%, over the prior year quarter, primarily due to new sponsorship deals and additional tour revenue.

Retail, Merchandising, Apparel & Product Licensing revenue was £26.8m, an increase of £500,000, or 1.9%, over the prior year quarter.

Broadcasting revenue for the quarter was £32.9 million, a decrease of £9.9 million, or 23.1%, over the prior year quarter, primarily due to non-participation in the UEFA Champions League.

Guaranteed UEFA broadcasting revenues are typically recognised evenly over the course of the competition’s group stages.

The majority of the full year revenue impact of non-participation in the UEFA Champions League will therefore occur in the second quarter, when five of the six group matches will be played.

Matchday revenue for the quarter was £22.1m, an increase of £5.8m, or 35.6%, over the prior year quarter, primarily due to playing two additional home games in the quarter.

Total operating expenses for the quarter were £136.4m, a decrease of £7.1m, or 4.9%, over the prior year quarter.

Employee benefit expenses for the quarter were £70.2m, a decrease of £6.8m, or 8.8%, over the prior year quarter, primarily due to reductions in player salaries as a result of non-participation in the UEFA Champions League.
Other operating expenses for the quarter were £30.4 m, an increase of £1.8m, or 6.3%, over the prior year quarter.

Net Debt as of 30 September 2019 was £384.5m, an increase of £137.3m over the year, primarily due to an overall decrease in cash and cash equivalents.