Manchester United has recorded record revenues of £515.3m for the 2016 financial year, the first UK football club to do so.
In a year when it won the FA Cup, the Old Trafford club also signed 14 sponsorship deals, and saw commercial, matchday and TV revenues all rise.
It is now predicting 2017 revenues of up to £540m, even though it is not in the Champions League this season.
Under new boss Jose Mourinho they are currently third in the Premier League.
‘Invest in squad’
The club’s accounts up until 30 June 2016 confirm that the Premier League club was the first British team to break the half-billion mark, but the figure is short of Barcelona’s €679m (£570m) revenue revealed in July.
The Premier League giants also revealed operating profits of £68.9m, and adjusted core earnings of £191.9m, both also records.
“Our record fiscal 2016 financial performance reflects the continued underlying strength of the business and the club is on target to achieve record revenues in 2017, even without a contribution from the Champions League,” said executive vice-chairman Ed Woodward.
“This strong financial performance has enabled us to invest in our squad, team management and facilities to position us to challenge for, and win, trophies in the coming years.”
Net debt increased by £5.7m on the previous year, to £260.9m, which the club said was primarily due to the impact of foreign exchange rate movements on its US-denominated debt.
Big figures for Manchester United, slightly exceeding their own expectations of £510m revenues for the year to 30 June 2016.
As has been the case for a number of years now, commercial income is roaring ahead, with a 36.3% increase in that sector alone to £268.3m.
To put it into context, that figure would have put United 11th in the latest Deloitte Rich List, ahead of Tottenham, both Milan clubs and Roma.
The only slight downer is that United cannot claim to be the first football club to generate annual revenue in excess of £500m.
That claim belongs to Barcelona, who benefited from a stronger Euro against the pound post-Brexit.
Cup run
On the commercial front during the 2015-16 season, the club activated its new kit sponsor and supply deal with Adidas, which it says “was a very successful launch”. In addition it brought the management of Old Trafford Megastore in-house, and signed several licensing deals including with Sbenu, New Era and Columbia.
Commercial revenue for the year was £268.3m, an increase of £71.4m, or 36.3%, over the previous year.
Meanwhile, broadcasting revenue for the year was £140.4m, an increase of £32.7m, or 30.4%, on the previous year, which the club says was “primarily due to participation in UEFA competitions”.
And matchday revenue was £106.6m, an increase of £16.0m, or 17.7%,on 2014-15, thanks to that European participation and the club’s run to the FA Cup final.
The club’s ambitious revenue target for 2016-17 will be helped by the new Premier League TV deals, with the club pointing out that “domestic live broadcasting rights [are] up 70% and international rights up approximately 40% for the 2017 to 2019 cycle”.
However, it is predicting a drop in adjusted care earnings during the current year, due to the impact of not playing in the Uefa Champions League.
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