By Mark Baber
May 3 – On the pitch, Manchester United won the 212-13 Premier League title with four games to spare. Off the pitch financial results for the three and nine month periods ended 31 March 2013, announced yesterday, which show record third quarter revenue of £91.7m, sponsorship revenue increasing by 52.2% and adjusted EBITDA increasing 22.5% to a third quarter record of £25m.
During the period covered a Training Centre sponsorship was signed as part of the partnership with Aon and new sponsorship deals announced with gloops (social gaming in Japan); Ekspres Bank (financial services, Denmark) and BIDV (financial services, Vietnam).
Ed Woodward, executive vice chairman, commented: “Each of our three primary sectors -commercial, broadcasting and match day – delivered strong top-line gains and helped us achieve a record third quarter for both revenue and adjusted EBITDA. In addition, we are delighted to be continuing and deepening our relationship with Aon, as our new Training Kit, Training Centre and Tour Partner, for an additional eight years.”
With such strong figures, Manchester United expects revenue for fiscal 2013 to be £350m to £360m and adjusted EBITDA to be £107m to £110m.
Revenue analysis shows commercial revenue for the third quarter increased 31.9% year on year to £36m driven by new sponsorship deals. For the third quarter sponsorship revenue increased 52.2% to £21m; Retail, Merchandising, Apparel & Product Licensing increased 9.5% to £9.2m; and New Media & Mobile increased 13.7% to £5.8m.
Broadcasting revenues for the third quarter increased 28.4% year on year to £21.7m (mainly due to getting through to the Champions League Round of 16).
Match day revenues for the third quarter increased 27.8% year on year to £34m (due to an additional three home cup games in the quarter compared to the prior year).
Despite staff costs for the third quarter increasing 25.1% year on year to £44.9m, (primarily due to new player signings, existing player wage increases and growth in commercial headcount), the club’s borrowings stood at £367.6m on 31 March 2013 compared to £423.3m on 31 March 2012.
The profit for the period for the third quarter was £3.6m compared with a profit of £1.1m in the prior year quarter. Earnings per share attributable to owners of the Company for the third quarter were £0.02 compared with £0.01 in the prior year quarter.
With such strong figures, Manchester United are in a position to strengthen their squad with Woodward telling analysts: “Our top priority is strengthening the squad to ensure we are best-positioned for successful runs in all the major competitions next season.”
However, Woodward added: “I wouldn’t expect there to be a major retooling of the squad,” as “there is incredible depth. We could put two first teams out with 11 internationals in each.”
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