Man United debt hits £969.6m

Manchester United have declared that they owe £969.6 million through a combination of gross debt, bank borrowings, and outstanding transfer fees with associated payments.

United made the disclosure via the club’s second-quarter results to December 31 and released on Thursday.

Unlike previous years, there was no investors’ call afterwards as a result of the ongoing “strategic review”.

This could, however, lead to the sale of the Premier League club.

The review itself is centred on how to meet the club’s long-term capital investment needs, specifically for improvements to Old Trafford and the club’s Carrington training ground, and – it is being stressed – is not due to any issues with short-term liquidity.

However, the amount owed to the club has grown.

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While the principal debt remains at $650 million, a change in the exchange rate meant the club owed £535.7 million compared to £477.1 million at the same point in the previous year.

In addition, £206.2 million has been taken from a rolling credit facility, with another £227.7 million owed in outstanding transfer fees.

The club did have £31 million in cash or equivalent, but the overall sum remains just short of £1 billion.

According to BBC, the figures are evidence of a “stretched” financial situation, although it is being stressed that this has already changed for the better, due to bumper matchday revenues and impressive season ticket sales – and they expect that to continue.

In posting profits of £6.3 million for the quarter, United have also revealed sponsorship revenue has increased 43.2 per cent to £50.4 million over the prior quarter.

The club said this was due to the impact of their training kit agreement with Tezos, plus a ‘one-off sponsorship credit’, which they have opted not to detail.

Wages were down £20.4 million to £77.3 million, a decrease of 20.9 per cent as Erik ten Hag’s team are not in this season’s Champions League.

The Star