Manchester United, the embattled heavyweights from English soccer’s top-tier Premier League, recorded a financial loss for the 2022-23 season despite reeling in record revenues.
Despite bringing in £648.4 million ($784 million) during last season (in which United finished third and won the League Cup), the club still lost £28.7 million.
This figure is, however, substantially lower than the 2021-22 loss of £115.5 million. United unveiled their financial results for the 2022-23 season earlier today (October 26).
These are the first financial results announced since Qatar’s Sheikh Jassim withdrew his bid to buy United from the current owners, the Florida-based Glazer family. That has left the way clear for British billionaire Sir Jim Ratcliffe, owner of petrochemicals giant Ineos, to instead take a 25% stake, which he is believed to be in the process of negotiating for.
In terms of revenues, the previous high was set in 2018-19 (£627 million), and last season’s figure represents a rise of 11% from 2021-22.
Growth in the club’s commercial revenues played a key role in this significant rise, with that sector contributing over £300 million to the club’s income for the first time ever, hitting £302.9 million.
This equates to an increase of 17.5% year-on-year.
Sponsorship income amounted to £189.5 million, while retail, merchandise, apparel, and product, brought in £113.4 million.
Matchday revenue, meanwhile, rose by 23.4% to £136.4 million, with United playing a larger number of fixtures at their 75,000-capacity Old Trafford stadium during 2022-23 than the previous year. In total, due to better runs in the various cup competitions they entered, the Manchester club played seven more games at Old Trafford than in 2021-22.
Broadcast revenue decreased by 2.7% to £209.1 million, on the other hand, as United competed in the second-tier UEFA Europa League as opposed to the top-tier pan-continental UEFA Champions League.
The club’s earnings before interest, taxation, depreciation, and amortisation (EBITDA) came to £154.9 million, up an impressive 91% from the 2021-22 figure of £81.1 million.
As was the case during 2021-22, no dividends were taken out of the club, while United’s total debt comes to $650 million.
Employee benefit expenses (mostly player salaries) came to £331.4 million.
