Record Revenues Revealed At Old Trafford

Manchester United has released its annual financial results, posting record revenues for the 2022/23 season, but still making a loss.

The Premier League giants brought in £648.4million for the last campaign, an 11% increase on 2021/22 results, which beats the previous high of £627m set in 2018/19.

The figure has caused some surprise as United had been playing in the UEFA Europa League, European football’s second-tier competition. Due to differing broadcast payments, the competition is much less lucrative than its superior, the UEFA Champions League.

However, United’s commercial growth was a major factor, jumping past the £300m mark for the first time to £302.9m, an 17.5% increase of £45.1m on the year previous.

A higher number of matches at Old Trafford also helped, with United benefiting from exclusive home draws in the domestic cup competitions. Erik ten Hag’s side played seven more games at home than the previous season, seeing 24.5% matchday revenue rise by £25.9m.

Despite these increased numbers, United still made a loss for the period of £28.7m, which is a significant decrease on the loss for 2021/22, £115.5m.

Another impact of missing out Champions League football was a decrease in employee benefit expenses, which reflects the player salaries. This figure was £331.4m, a decrease of £52.8m from the previous campaign.

United’s long-term debt remains unchanged at $650m with no dividends paid for the second year running.

The results have been released against a backdrop of impending investment at Old Trafford. In October, it was revealed that the founder and Chief Executive Officer of INEOS, Sir Jim Ratcliffe, will pay £1.3bn for 25% of Manchester United following the withdrawal of Qatari businessman Sheikh Jassim bin Hamad al Thani from the bidding process.