Manchester United Financial thread

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• Not named but @BSchweinsteiger has written back into @ManUtd accounts as an “exceptional item” – valued at £4.8m
• Commercial revenue £66.8m. Up 1.1% Broadcasting £52.5m. Up 40.8%. Matchday £38.6%. Up 27% (more games in this quarter) Total £157.9m up 18%
• Ed Woodward: "Pleased to b competing for 1st available trophy of season. Congratulate Wayne Rooney on being Utd all-time record goal scorer"
  
• This is @BSchweinsteiger "Exceptional credit £4.8m relates to reversal of registration 4 player re-established as member of 1st team squad."
  
• Utd: "Net finance costs for 1/4 £12m from £7.3m (+155.3%) due 2 unrealised foreign exchange losses on retranslation of unhedged $ borrowing"
  
• Ed Woodward: "Third of season left to play, looking forward to a strong finish”
  
• Woodward says club planning to launch MUTV app globally (where they are allowed). £1.49 to £4.99 a month.
• Utd: "Wages up 14.2% due primarily to new player acquisitions."
  
• Woodward: "Ticket price freeze is our policy re core fans at stadium. Number one priority is full stadium. Number two is noisy stadium"
  
• Woodward: "Happiness from manager of where we are as squad. There will be continual improvement don’t have to churn large number of players"
  
• Woodward: "MUTV App cant go in UK or many countries where we have deals with partners who have exclusive content. Will b 160+ countries"
  
• Woodward on summer tour: "Not announced where we are going yet. Cant confirm or deny it is USA. Will be larger than last year."

Perhaps this could be merged with any other active Financial thread. The only one I could find has been inactive for more than a year.

Spoiler

Manchester United announces record quarterly revenues
By Bill WilsonBusiness reporter, BBC News
Manchester United says it remains on track for record revenues for the current financial year, after making record quarterly revenues.

The Premier League's new TV deal meant broadcast revenues were up 40.8% in the last three months of 2016, while match day income rose 27%.

Total revenues were £157.9m, up 18% from £133.8m a year ago. The club now expects revenues of £540m this year.

The Red Devils currently lie sixth in the Premier League.

Sponsor deals
"The robustness of our business model continues to be reflected in our strong quarterly financial results and we remain on track to deliver record revenues for the year," said Ed Woodward, executive vice chairman.

While broadcast and match day revenues were strongly ahead, commercial revenue was largely unchanged at £66.8m. They had enjoyed a strong boost this time last year with the commencement of the Adidas kit deal.

The club also said that in the quarter three major sponsorship deals were signed, new partnerships with Deezer and Mlily, and the renewal of one with Concha Y Toro.

Operating profit for Q2 was up 15% at £37.6m, and net operating profit was up 23% at £69m.

Analysis: Simon Stone, BBC football correspondent

In, out, in, but ultimately out.

Bastian Schweinsteiger's status as a Manchester United player can be shown by his position as an "exceptional item" on the club's balance sheet.

The 32-year-old was back in today, albeit at a reduced £4.8m, but it is not expected he will still be at Old Trafford when the summer transfer window closes.

Of major interest in today's investors conference call was executive vice-chairman Ed Woodward's admission that the huge growth in United's commercial revenues will be hard to maintain.

Instead, it seems attention is turning to increasing media revenues.

The MUTV app Woodward announced today will not be available in the United Kingdom but it is expected to be available in China, India and Indonesia.

At a cost of between £1.99 and £4.99, it is not going to be a "game changer" but it does represent the first steps in what will become a major advance into the digital word for United, at that is where their next drive for increased revenues will come from.

Coy on tour plans
However, the weakening of the UK pound across the US dollar over the year meant that United's net debt as of 31 December 2016 was £409.3m, an increase of £87.2m over the year.

"The gross US dollar debt principal remains unchanged," said a club statement.

"The increase in net debt is due to the strengthening dollar, with the USD/GBP exchange rate moving from 1.4747 on 31 December 2015, to 1.2293 on 31 December 2016, resulting in an £88m increase in gross debt."

Meanwhile, one quirk of the latest financial results has been an exceptional credit of £4.8m being applied to the accounts during the quarter, after German international Bastien Schweinsteiger was "now considered to be re-established as a member of the first team playing squad".

The Old Trafford club had taken a financial charge of £6.7m in September after the player was considered surplus to squad requirements.

In addition, in a conference call the club said it was to launch an app for its in-house TV station, MUTV, in more than 160 countries.

But it would not confirm widely-reported stories that it plans to tour the US this summer, except to say that the tour would be "larger than last year" - a rain-hit trip to China.

Price freeze
United are in the final of the EFL Cup on 26 February. In addition, later this month the club faces Blackburn Rovers in the FA Cup fifth round and Saint Etienne in the Europa League round of 32.

The club also remains in contention for a Champions League place finish, being two points behind fourth placed Arsenal.

The results come a day after Manchester United and its official timekeeper partner, TAG Heuer, unveiled a pair of club special-edition watches. The first of the watches, the F1, is on sale for £1,300.

Earlier this week the club, majority-owned by the American Glazer family, also announced it was freezing season ticket prices for the 2017-18 season, the sixth season in a row it has kept prices on hold.

It also announced price reductions for young season ticket holders.

 

[Luke Parker]

Being reported that due to the collapse of the pound against the dollar our club debt has increased by £87 million to £409 million since the turn of the new year. Shocking figures in such a short time if true.

Will this have an impact on our financial competitiveness? Is this only the tip of the iceberg?

It seems Brexit may have a bigger impact on clubs like us who are more reliant on the markets than a super-rich owner.

 

[Raoul]

Merged both your posts into one thread.

 

[DatGuyRich]

Being reported that due to the collapse of the pound against the dollar our club debt has increased by £87 million to £409 million since the turn of the new year. Shocking figures in such a short time if true.

Will this have an impact on our financial competitiveness? Is this only the tip of the iceberg?

It seems Brexit may have a bigger impact on clubs like us who are more reliant on the markets than a super-rich owner.

There is nothing to worry about.

People always seem to panic whenever our financial reports are released.

 

[Sassy Colin]

Merged both your posts into one thread.

I thought we already had a thread for this anyway?

 

[Rado_N]

Being reported that due to the collapse of the pound against the dollar our club debt has increased by £87 million to £409 million since the turn of the new year. Shocking figures in such a short time if true.

Will this have an impact on our financial competitiveness? Is this only the tip of the iceberg?

It seems Brexit may have a bigger impact on clubs like us who are more reliant on the markets than a super-rich owner.

It's meaningless, just an on paper movement.

 

[BigTimeCharlie]

The more debt (so long as it is managable with interest only payments) the better Tax break we get. I would go out on a limb to say if we had no debt we wouldn't have as much profit...

 

[prath92]

Being reported that due to the collapse of the pound against the dollar our club debt has increased by £87 million to £409 million since the turn of the new year. Shocking figures in such a short time if true.

Will this have an impact on our financial competitiveness? Is this only the tip of the iceberg?

It seems Brexit may have a bigger impact on clubs like us who are more reliant on the markets than a super-rich owner.

Interest is the only thing which affects us Cashflow wise. For that we probably have a euro account or even Hedge it in Forward Markets to reduce risk of situations exactly like this. will have no impact on debt this

 

[andycolegangstainnit]

Being reported that due to the collapse of the pound against the dollar our club debt has increased by £87 million to £409 million since the turn of the new year. Shocking figures in such a short time if true.

Will this have an impact on our financial competitiveness? Is this only the tip of the iceberg?

It seems Brexit may have a bigger impact on clubs like us who are more reliant on the markets than a super-rich owner.

As other posters have said this is only a paper movement doe to the fall in the £. It would only be a problem if repayment was imminent which it's not and even then could easily be refinanced either by fresh debt or by issuing more shares. The fall in the £ would affect us if we had payments to make oversease in dollars (or other currencies against which the £ has weakened) but I doubt there are any of those of any significance. I notice that provision is made for tax at 35% (the US rate). Trump is on about reducing this to European levels - more like 20% - so that cold be good news!

 

[pacifictheme]

Mutv app not in the uk? What a joke. We get such a shite deal in the uk for live football and its our fecking league.

 

[MrPooni]

Being reported that due to the collapse of the pound against the dollar our club debt has increased by £87 million to £409 million since the turn of the new year. Shocking figures in such a short time if true.

Will this have an impact on our financial competitiveness? Is this only the tip of the iceberg?

It's not dissimilar to having a £400m mortgage on a rental property worth £3bn and growing.

Mutv app not in the uk? What a joke. We get such a shite deal in the uk for live football and its our fecking league.

Being able to physically attend matches at a reasonable price kind of negates the shittiness not being able to access a paid MUTV app on your phone, no?

 

[stubie]

Can MUTV be applied to Sky Go?

 

[pacifictheme]

It's not dissimilar to having a £400m mortgage on a rental property worth £3bn and growing.

Being able to physically attend matches at a reasonable price kind of negates the shittiness not being able to access a paid MUTV app on your phone, no?

To be honest i have little interest in mutv. It more teminds me that in the uk you pay a shit load of money for selected matches, whereas in just about every other country you can pay feck all for every single pemier league match.

And somehow that is justified and accepted as ok.

 

[SSSSnake]

Those figures don't look good do they?
I can't believe we've increased our debt by £87 million since the turn of the year. WTF!?

 

[Adisa]

Mutv app not in the uk? What a joke. We get such a shite deal in the uk for live football and its our fecking league.

It's ridiculous to be honest.

 

[Nanook]

Those figures don't look good do they?
I can't believe we've increased our debt by £87 million since the turn of the year. WTF!?

We haven't, it's just the exchange rate post Brexit.

 

[Paul the Wolf]

Those figures don't look good do they?
I can't believe we've increased our debt by £87 million since the turn of the year. WTF!?

It's peanuts, the increase in the debt is converting the dollar debt into sterling. Blame the fools who voted for Brexit.

 

[Z_Wolf]

The debt looks scary. I really hope Ed knows what he is doing,

 

[JON.B]

• Woodward: "Happiness from manager of where we are as squad. There will be continual improvement don’t have to churn large number of players"

What does that even mean? Obvious that there will be improvements to the squad but considering the age of some of the current players and cost to replace, it's difficult to see how this will be done on the cheap..

 

[OohAahMartial]

I read that he expects less ins and outs each year. So probably not as many as most of us expect this Summer.

 

[SirAF]

The debt looks scary. I really hope Ed knows what he is doing,

It's not scary at all.

 

[Munich_1958]

I read that he expects less ins and outs each year. So probably not as many as most of us expect this Summer.

To me this means they are backing Mourinho regardless of position this season, Mourinho or any manager who gets to build there team will need less in and outs eventually

 

[AlecHDR]

Happy to hear that Jose is not looking to make major changes in the squad, just minor improvements. Time for some sanity. We should be looking to build a team and that process takes time. We have a lot of good players here that haven't performed at their best, or have not done so consistently, or not performed well at the same time.

It's been ridiculous how much money we've been throwing around hoping for quick fixes without much thought behind the whole thing. A combination of smart recruitment and proper coaching is what we need.

 

[JustAFan]

Those figures don't look good do they?
I can't believe we've increased our debt by £87 million since the turn of the year. WTF!?

Did you not bother to read the WHY it happened? It is being mentioned in every article about the results and in this very thread.

 

[JustAFan]

• Woodward: "Happiness from manager of where we are as squad. There will be continual improvement don’t have to churn large number of players"

What does that even mean? Obvious that there will be improvements to the squad but considering the age of some of the current players and cost to replace, it's difficult to see how this will be done on the cheap..

It really is not difficult, what that means is that we do not need to turnover large parts of the squad in each window. No where in that statement does it say we will try to do so "on the cheap" unless he mentioned that in another statement you did not quote.

Continual Improvement just means that yes there will always be transfers as we look to improve and replace players as needed, remember even as players get older it does not mean they will all be let go in one window.

 

[antohan]

We haven't, it's just the exchange rate post Brexit.

In fairness, a chunk of our revenue is in pounds so the ability to pay a dollar debt is affected. The upside is most of our costs are in pounds and sponsorship is probably in USD so we may well be better off overall.

The only certainty is the players' get less for their pounds which could be relevant in future contracts or foreign clubs being more competitive (e.g. see De Gea rumours).

 

[JustAFan]

In fairness, a chunk of our revenue is in pounds so the ability to pay a dollar debt is affected. The upside is most of our costs are in pounds and sponsorship is probably in USD so we may well be better off overall.

The only certainty is the players' get less for their pounds which could be relevant in future contracts or foreign clubs being more competitive (e.g. see De Gea rumours).

That is something that might affect every club though.

 

[simonhch]

I expect the pound to bounce back eventually anyway. Especially if economic indicators don't show a significant downturn in the event of Brexit. Ultimately people will realise it is undervalued. Between now and then, there'll be more blips.

Of course we won't see any articles in the Guardian saying "United's debt decreases by 50M due to resurgence of the pound", because who wants good news?

 

[Bojan11]

I read that he expects less ins and outs each year. So probably not as many as most of us expect this Summer.

It most likely means 4 in and 4 out.

We not going to have 4 in and 8 out like last year.

I expect Rooney and Young to leave. We already got £40m for two other players in January.

 

[RedCurry]

Just a small note about the OP tweet, I doubt we can just "write back" Schweinsteiger if he was written down as an impairment loss. That exceptional item might be something completely different. But I haven't taken a look at the financials yet. But I will, once I get some time.

 

[Classical Mechanic]

Those figures don't look good do they?
I can't believe we've increased our debt by £87 million since the turn of the year. WTF!?

I wish that my mortgage was less than my yearly earnings.

 

[Adisa]

• Woodward: "Happiness from manager of where we are as squad. There will be continual improvement don’t have to churn large number of players"

What does that even mean? Obvious that there will be improvements to the squad but considering the age of some of the current players and cost to replace, it's difficult to see how this will be done on the cheap..

He means turnover of players will be lower.

 

[flappyjay]

To be honest i have little interest in mutv. It more teminds me that in the uk you pay a shit load of money for selected matches, whereas in just about every other country you can pay feck all for every single pemier league match.

And somehow that is justified and accepted as ok.

I pay the equivalent of 46 pounds a month for about 200 hundred channel's which includes all epl games ,fa cup, capital one cup, ucl , la liga and some African leagues

 

[Cantonagotmehere]

I expect the pound to bounce back eventually anyway. Especially if economic indicators don't show a significant downturn in the event of Brexit. Ultimately people will realise it is undervalued. Between now and then, there'll be more blips.

Of course we won't see any articles in the Guardian saying "United's debt decreases by 50M due to resurgence of the pound", because who wants good news?

Exactly!

 

[antohan]

That is something that might affect every club though.

If the EPL is your oyster, yes.

 

[top1whoisman]

To be honest i have little interest in mutv. It more teminds me that in the uk you pay a shit load of money for selected matches, whereas in just about every other country you can pay feck all for every single pemier league match.

And somehow that is justified and accepted as ok.

That is unbelievable shite. I pay around £21/month for channels that show all PL matches (one live at a time), CL, La Liga, Serie A, Ligue 1, FA Cup, EFL Cup, South American WC qualifiers, some European international friendlies, Championship, Copa Del Rey... and that's football only.

 

[Dr. Dwayne]

Just a small note about the OP tweet, I doubt we can just "write back" Schweinsteiger if he was written down as an impairment loss. That exceptional item might be something completely different. But I haven't taken a look at the financials yet. But I will, once I get some time.

I don't think it was an impairment loss, just removed from the balance sheet as at the time he wasn't an easily liquidated asset. Now that he's back in the first team, it's feasible he could be sold and so he's back on the balance sheet.

 

[Dr. Dwayne]

Also, Glazers out!

 

[redtilded121]

are those figures in the OP a comparison to the 1st quarter or the 2nd quarter last year?

 

[SSSSnake]

Did you not bother to read the WHY it happened? It is being mentioned in every article about the results and in this very thread.

I reacted when I saw the headline in the media chill bro. Makes sense now. No panic.