LONDON: Premier League giants Manchester United reported total revenue for the first quarter at £141 million ($186.55 million) – a 17% jump over income for the same period in the previous fiscal.
Net profit for the period stood at £7.9 million, a 558.3 per cent jump over the £1.2 million achieved in the prior year quarter.
Broadcasting revenue was £38.1 million, an increase of £9.0 million, or 30.9%, over the prior year quarter, primarily due to participation in the UEFA Champions League, playing one additional PL home game and participation in the UEFA Super Cup final, partially offset by one fewer PL game broadcast live.
United won Europe’s second-tier Europa League competition last season, which secured their qualification for the Champions League after they missed out the previous season.
Matchday revenue for the quarter was £22.4 million, an increase of £5.6 million, or 33.3% over the prior year quarter, primarily due to playing two additional home games across all competitions.
Commercial revenue for the quarter was £80.5 million, an increase of £6.2 million, or 8.3%, over the prior year quarter.
Sponsorship revenue for the quarter of £53.2 million, an increase of £6.3 million, or 13.4%, over the prior year quarter, was primarily due to playing a greater number of tour matches.
On a related note, during this period the club played five tour matches across the US to a cumulative stadium audience of more than 250,000.
This quarter also includes £2.0 million of mobile and content revenue (prior year quarter £2.5 million), previously shown separately in commercial revenue.
Retail, merchandising, apparel & product licensing revenue for the quarter was £27.3 million, a decrease of £0.1 million, or 0.4%, over the prior year quarter.
United, whose stars include Paul Pogba, Romelu Lukaku and Henrikh Mkhitaryan, are top of their group in the Champions League and second in the English Premier League, eight points behind cross-town rivals Manchester City.
The club’s adjusted earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) for the three months to September 30 rose 17 per cent to £36.6 million ($48.3 million) from £31.2 million a year earlier.
Revenue for the period came in at £141 million, compared with £120.2 million a year ago.
United, which posted a 33.3 percent rise in matchday revenue after playing two additional home games in the period, stuck to its full-year forecast for revenues of £575-585 million and adjusted EBITDA of £175-185 million.
Ed Woodward, executive vice chairman, commented, “We are just over a quarter of the way through what promises to be another exciting season. In the Champions League we have won all four games played to-date; we are through to the quarter final of the Carabao Cup; and are looking forward to the next few months as the number of matches ramps up.”
($1 = 0.7582 pounds)
