Manchester United have announced record turnover for last season as revenue grew 13% to a record £363m and a net profit of £146m.
The driving force once again was United’s commercial arm which increased revenue by 30% as United landed new kit, media and mobile phone deals.
United’s commercial revenue last season was £153m, 42% of the clubs total income. The rest comes from television rights, worth £102m, and match-day revenues which totalled £109m.
Ed Woodward, Manchester United’s executive vice chairman, said:
“We are very proud of our results. Our commercial business continues to be a very powerful engine of growth enabling the team to continue to be successful.
“We won our 20th English League title last season and are delighted to have David Moyes lead our football team into a new and exciting chapter. We look forward to a successful 2013-14, both on and off the pitch.”
What Woodward failed to mention was that the club spent £71m in 2012-13 financing the cost of the Glazer family’s debt-laden takeover of the club. The £71m finance costs take to £680m the total cost to United in interest, fees, bank charges and debt repayments of the Glazers’ 2005 takeover of the club, according to Andy Green, the investment analyst who blogs on United. The £525m the American family borrowed to buy United was loaded on to the club to repay, and eight years on, despite so much interest paid, United’s debt at 30 June was still £389m.
Can you imagine the sort of side that United could have put together if that £680m has been invested in the first team squad and not in lining the Glazers pockets?