MANCHESTER: Premier League heavyweights Manchester United announced its 2019 fiscal first quarter results ending September 30 on Thursday with revenues worth 135 million pounds ($173.2 million) and operating profit valued at 13.9 million pounds ($17.8 million).
United saw a jump of 4.9% in broadcasting revenues as compared to the 2018 fiscal first quarter from 40.8 million ($52.32 million) to 42.8 million pounds ($54.9 million) as of September 2018.
However, the club reported a significant drop of 5.7% in commercial revenues from 80.5 million to 75.9 million pounds ($97.3 million). A major contributing factor to this is United having a smaller summer tour of 2018 to the United States that saw sponsorship revenues tumble to 49.6 million pounds ($63.6 million). This comes as a surprise even as the club successfully signed global partnership deals with Kohler, True Religion, Melitta and renewed its associations with Canon Medical Systems and Deezer during this period.
Primarily due to playing two fewer home games across all competitions, the Red Devils’ matchday revenues fell from 22.4 million ($28.7 million) in September 2017 to 16.3 million pounds ($20.9 million) this year.
Net cash generated from operating activities for the quarter was £114.8 million ($147.2 million), an increase of £96.9 million ($124.3 million) over the prior year quarter, primarily due to the timing of sponsorship payments. A semi-annual cash dividend of $0.09 per share will be paid on 4 January 2019, to shareholders of record on 30 November 2018. The stock will begin to trade ex-dividend on 29 November 2018.
United estimates that during the entire 2019 fiscal year, it will earn anywhere between £615m to £630m in revenues and adjusted EBITDA would be between £175 million ($224.5 million) to £190 million ($243.7 million). According to the Deloitte Money List in January 2018, the club was ranked first in the world with revenues amounting to £581m.
Manchester United executive deputy chairman Ed Woodward commented: “Our financial strength enables us to continue to attract and retain top players and to invest in our academy, as we look to drive the success on the pitch that the club and our fans expect. We remain on track to deliver our record full-year revenue guidance, underpinning our long-term, strategic plan to create sustainable growth across all areas of the club.”
