Manchester United Plc Reports Third Quarter Fiscal 2025 Results

Key Points

• The Men's first team reached the final of the UEFA Europa League and finished the 2024/25 season in 15^th position;
• The Women's team reached the FA Cup final and finished the 2024/25 Women's Super League season in third position, qualifying for the UEFA Women's Champions League for the 2025/26 season;
• The Women's team reached the final of the inaugural World Sevens Football tournament in Estoril, Portugal;
• The Men's first team has undertaken its first ever post-season tour, with games in Kuala Lumpur and Hong Kong;
• The Men's first team also announced its preparations for the 2025/26 season, including matches in New Jersey, Chicago and Atlanta as part of the Premier League's Summer Series;
• The club announced its ambition to build a new world-class 100,000 seater stadium as the centerpiece of a regeneration project across the Old Trafford area with conceptual designs released;
• Work continues at our Carrington training ground as part of the £50 million investment in a new high-performance focused training facility, expected to be finished in advance of the 2025/26 season;
• The academy achieved a 2^nd place finish in the U18 Premier League North and Chido Obi Martin, Harry Amass and Tyler Fredricson all made first-team debuts in the second half of the season;
• Total revenues increased 17.4% in the quarter with increases across all three key revenue streams, driven by additional matches played in the quarter as a result of strong performance in the UEFA Europa League and high demand for the Club's hospitality offering;
• The Company recorded an operating profit £0.7m in the quarter compared to an operating loss of £66.2m in 3Q24; Adjusted EBITDA for the quarter was £51.2 million, up 274% on Q3 fiscal 2024;
• The club announced measures to improve financial sustainability and enhance operational efficiency as part of a wider transformation plan, with benefits expected to be realised from Q1 of fiscal 2026;
• For fiscal 2025, the Company tightens its revenue guidance to £660m to £670m and expects to be at the higher end of this range; the Company also raises its Adjusted EBITDA guidance to between £180 million and £190 million.

Manchester United (NYSE:MANU, the "Company, " the "Group" and the "Club")) today announced financial results for the 2025 fiscal third quarter ended 31 March 2025.

Management Commentary

Omar Berrada, Chief Executive Officer, commented, "We were proud to reach the final of the UEFA Europa League, but ultimately, we were disappointed to finish as runner-up in Bilbao. We had a difficult season in the Premier League, which we all know fell below our standards and we have a clear expectation of improvement next season. We have been pleased with the performance of our women's team, with a third placed league finish, enabling us to qualify for the UEFA Champions League and once again reaching the FA Cup Final. We followed this by reaching the final of the inaugural World Sevens Series. We extended the contract of Head Coach, Marc Skinner, reflecting the excellent work he has done with the team this season.

"We remain focused on infrastructure, with the redevelopment of our Carrington Training Complex continuing and on track, which will be the heart of our club, providing world class facilities for all our teams and our staff. We have also announced our aspiration to pursue a new 100,000 seat stadium, sitting at the heart of the regeneration of the Old Trafford area, which would be a catalyst for growth and investment in our local community. We are continuing to work with all the relevant stakeholders, including central Government, to support their vision for growth."

Outlook

For fiscal 2025, the Company tightens its revenue guidance to £660m to £670m and expects to be at the higher end of this range. The Company also raises its Adjusted EBITDA guidance to between £180 million and £190 million. The club remains committed to, and in compliance with, both the Premier League's Profit and Sustainability Rules and UEFA's Financial Fair Play Regulations.

Key Financials (unaudited)

Revenue Analysis

Commercial

Commercial revenue for the quarter was £74.7 million, an increase of £5.1 million, or 7.3%, over the prior year quarter.

• Sponsorship revenue was £42.5 million, an increase of £1.8 million, or 4.4%, over the prior year quarter, primarily due to the new Qualcomm front of shirt sponsorship agreement, partially offset by other changes in our commercial agreements.
• Retail, Merchandising, Apparel & Product Licensing revenue was £32.2 million, an increase of £3.3 million, or 11.4%, over the prior year quarter, primarily due to the launch of our new e-commerce model in partnership with SCAYLE.

Broadcasting

Broadcasting revenue for the quarter was £41.3 million, an increase of £3.8 million, or 10.1%, over the prior year quarter, primarily due to the men's first team playing 4 additional matches in UEFA competitions in the current year quarter, partially offset by 1 less match played in domestic cup competitions versus the prior year quarter.

Matchday

Matchday revenue for the quarter was £44.5 million, an increase of £14.9 million, or 50.3%, over the prior year quarter, due to playing 4 more home matches compared to the prior year quarter, alongside strong demand for our hospitality offering.

Other Financial Information

Operating expenses

Total operating expenses for the quarter were £162.1 million, a decrease of £41.6 million, or 20.4%, over the prior year quarter.

Employee benefit expenses

Employee benefit expenses for the quarter were £71.2 million, a decrease of £20.0 million, or 21.9%, over the prior year quarter. This is primarily due to the impact of transactions made during the January transfer window, the men's first team participating in the UEFA Europa League rather than the UEFA Champions League in the prior year and reduced non-playing staff costs as a result of the club's restructuring process.

Other operating expenses

Other operating expenses for the quarter were £38.1 million, an increase of £6.3 million, or 19.8%, over the prior year quarter. This is primarily due to increased matchday costs associated with playing 4 more home games in the quarter, compared to the prior year quarter and additional costs associated with our new e-commerce model, partially offset by a reduction in costs as a result of the company's focus on improving operating efficiency.

Depreciation and amortization

Depreciation for the quarter was £4.2 million, compared to £4.1 million in the prior year quarter. Amortization for the quarter was £45.9 million, a decrease of £0.4 million, or 0.9%, over the prior year quarter. The unamortized balance of registrations on 31 March 2025 was £513.7 million.

Exceptional items

Exceptional items for the quarter were a cost of £2.7 million, as a result of compensation for loss of office costs incurred in relation to the restructuring of the club's operations. Exceptional items for the prior year quarter were a cost of £30.3 million. This comprised costs incurred in relation to the sale of 27.7% of the Group's voting rights to Trawlers Limited, an entity wholly owned by Sir Jim Ratcliffe. These voting rights have been subsequently transferred from Trawlers Limited to INEOS Limited.

Profit on disposal of intangible assets

Profit on disposal of intangible assets for the quarter was £2.3 million, compared to a profit of £0.8 million for the prior year quarter.

Net finance costs

Net finance costs for the quarter were £3.8 million, compared to £17.3 million in the prior year quarter. The movement was primarily driven by a favourable swing in foreign exchange rates in the current quarter (gain on re-translation of £7.3 million), compared to an unfavourable swing in foreign exchange rates in the prior year quarter (loss on re-translation of £2.6 million).

Income tax

The income tax credit for the quarter was £0.4 million, compared to a credit of £12.1 million in the prior year quarter.

Cash flows

Overall cash and cash equivalents (including the effects of exchange rate movements) decreased by £22.5 million in the quarter to 31 March 2025, compared to an increase of £4.2 million in the prior year quarter.

Net cash inflow from operating activities for the quarter was £22.3 million, compared to a net cash outflow in the prior year quarter of £15.1 million. This is primarily due to increased matchday and broadcasting income compared to the prior year quarter, in addition to a reduced cost base, as described above.

Net capital expenditure on property, plant and equipment for the quarter was £16.9 million, an increase of £13.9 million over the prior year quarter, due to the improvement works taking place to our Carrington training facility.

Net capital expenditure on intangible assets for the quarter was £31.3 million, an increase of £15.5 million over the prior year quarter due to investment in the first team playing squad.

Net cash outflow from financing activities for the quarter was £0.1 million, compared to a net cash inflow of £38.4 million in the prior year quarter. The prior year quarter saw £158.5 million of proceeds from the issue of shares as part of the transaction agreement with Trawlers Limited, partially offset by a £120.0 million repayment of our revolving facilities.

Balance sheet

Our USD non-current borrowings as of 31 March 2025 were $650 million, which was unchanged from 31 March 2024. As a result of the year-on-year change in the USD/GBP exchange rate from 1.2632 at 31 March 2024 to 1.2913 at 31 March 2025, our non-current borrowings when converted to GBP were £500.9 million, compared to £511.3 million at the prior year quarter.

In addition to non-current borrowings, the Group maintains a revolving credit facility which varies based on seasonal flow of funds. Current borrowings at 31 March 2025 were £212.3 million compared to £143.0 million at 31 March 2024.

As of 31 March 2025, cash and cash equivalents were £73.2 million compared to £67.0 million at the prior year quarter. This movement is detailed further in the Statement of Cash Flows on page 11 of this release.

About Manchester United

Manchester United is one of the most popular and successful sports teams in the world, playing one of the most popular spectator sports on Earth. Through our 147-year football heritage we have won 69 trophies, enabling us to develop what we believe is one of the world's leading sports and entertainment brands with a global community of 1.1 billion fans and followers. Our large, passionate and highly engaged fan base provides Manchester United with a worldwide platform to generate significant revenue from multiple sources, including sponsorship, merchandising, product licensing, broadcasting and matchday initiatives which in turn, directly fund our ability to continuously reinvest in the club.

Cautionary Statements

This press release contains forward‑looking statements. You should not place undue reliance on such statements because they are subject to numerous risks and uncertainties relating to the Company's operations and business environment, all of which are difficult to predict and many are beyond the Company's control. These statements often include words such as "may," "might," "will," "could," "would," "should," "expect," "plan," "anticipate," "intend," "seek," "believe," "estimate," "predict," "potential," "continue," "contemplate," "possible" or similar expressions. The forward-looking statements contained in this press release are based on our current expectations and estimates of future events and trends, which affect or may affect our businesses and operations. You should understand that these statements are not guarantees of performance or results. They involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and assumptions. Although the Company believes that these forward-looking statements are based on reasonable assumptions, you should be aware that many factors could affect its actual financial results or results of operations and could cause actual results to differ materially from those in these forward-looking statements. These factors are more fully discussed in the "Risk Factors" section and elsewhere in the Company's Registration Statement on Form F-1, as amended (File No. 333-182535) and the Company's Annual Report on Form 20-F (File No. 001-35627) as supplemented by the risk factors contained in the Company's other filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Non-IFRS Measures: Definitions and Use

1. Adjusted EBITDA

Adjusted EBITDA is defined as loss for the period before depreciation, amortization, exceptional items, profit on disposal of intangible assets, net finance costs and tax.

Adjusted EBITDA is useful as a measure of comparative operating performance from period to period and among companies as it is reflective of changes in pricing decisions, cost controls and other factors that affect operating performance, and it removes the effect of our asset base (primarily depreciation and amortization), material volatile items (primarily profit on disposal of intangible assets and exceptional items), capital structure (primarily finance costs), and items outside the control of our management (primarily taxes). Adjusted EBITDA has limitations as an analytical tool, and you should not consider it in isolation, or as a substitute for an analysis of our results as reported under IFRS as issued by the IASB. A reconciliation of loss for the period to adjusted EBITDA is presented in supplemental note 2.

2. Adjusted loss for the period (i.e. adjusted net loss)

Adjusted loss for the period is calculated, where appropriate, by adjusting for charges/credits related to exceptional items, foreign exchange gains/losses on unhedged US dollar denominated borrowings (including foreign exchange losses immediately reclassified from the hedging reserve following change in contract currency denomination of future revenues), and fair value movements on embedded foreign exchange derivatives and foreign currency options, adding/subtracting the actual tax expense/credit for the period, and subtracting/adding the adjusted tax expense/credit for the period (based on a normalized tax rate of 21%; 2024: 21%). The normalized tax rate of 21% is the current US federal corporate income tax rate.

In assessing the comparative performance of the business, in order to get a clearer view of the underlying financial performance of the business, it is useful to strip out the distorting effects of the items referred to above and then to apply a ‘normalized' tax rate (for both the current and prior periods) of the weighted average US federal corporate income tax rate of 21% (2024: 21%) applicable during the financial year. A reconciliation of loss for the period to adjusted loss for the period is presented in supplemental note 3.

3. Adjusted basic and diluted loss per share

Adjusted basic and diluted loss per share are calculated by dividing the adjusted loss for the period by the weighted average number of ordinary shares in issue during the period. Adjusted diluted loss per share is calculated by adjusting the weighted average number of ordinary shares in issue during the period to assume conversion of all dilutive potential ordinary shares. There is one category of dilutive potential ordinary shares: share awards pursuant to the 2012 Equity Incentive Plan (the "Equity Plan"). Share awards pursuant to the Equity Plan are assumed to have been converted into ordinary shares at the beginning of the financial year. Adjusted basic and diluted loss per share are presented in supplemental note 3.

Key Performance Indicators

SUPPLEMENTAL NOTES

1 General information

Manchester United plc (the "Company") and its subsidiaries (together the "Group") is a men's and women's professional football club together with related and ancillary activities. The Company incorporated under the Companies Law (as amended) of the Cayman Islands.

2 Reconciliation of loss for the period to adjusted EBITDA

3 Reconciliation of loss for the period to adjusted loss for the period and adjusted basic and diluted loss per share

4 Cash generated from operations

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20250606770870/en/

Investors:

Roger Bell

Chief Financial Officer

[email protected]



Media:

Toby Craig

Chief Communications Officer

[email protected]