Man United Announces Drop In Total Revenue

Manchester United has announced a drop in total revenue of 3.3% for the year ending June 30 2012. 
 
The fall in revenue had been expected after the team’s failure to make the knockout stages of the UEFA Champions League last season. Regardless of the loss for this year Manchester United are predicting incomes of £350m to £360m for 2013, assuming that the team reaches the quarter-finals of the UEFA Champions League and the domestic cups.

As a result of the team playing for fewer home games in comparison to the previous season and being eliminated in the group stages of the Champions League, United saw matchday and broadcasting revenue decrease by 10.9% to £98.7 million and 11.3% to £104 million respectively.

However, that was countered by an increase in sponsorship and commercial deals. The team saw commercial revenue grow by 13.7% to a record £117.6m. Additionally, United also signed a new shirt sponsorship deal with General Motors that will take effect next year. 

Ed Woodward, Manchester United’s executive vice chairman, commented: ‘We are delighted to announce our first results as a NYSE listed company; fiscal 2012 was the best year ever for Manchester United’s commercial business. 

‘Our world-record $559m shirt sponsorship deal with Chevrolet and the Premier League’s new £1bn a year UK television rights deal (a 70% increase) highlight the outstanding growth prospects for the future.  We also expect a substantial increase in the value of the Premier League’s international television contracts scheduled to be announced later this year. 

‘In addition, we continued to strengthen our team by signing world-class players such as Robin van Persie and Shinji Kagawa over the summer.  We also opened a new commercial sales office in Hong Kong (our first outside the UK) to better position ourselves for growth in a region that represents 325 million of our 659 million followers.’