LONDON: English soccer club Manchester United, rated by Forbes as the world’s most highly-valued sports team, showed the first effects of a rare barren season when reporting a dip in quarterly revenue and underlying profit.
United, deposed as Premier League champions last weekend by local rivals Manchester City, paid the price for a failure to make it beyond the group stages of the Champions League, having reached the final of Europe’s premier tournament in 2010-11.
The club had its woes compounded by an exit from the Europa League, Europe’s secondary competition, at the round of 16 stage.
That relatively poor performance saw United’s revenue fall 6 per cent to 113 million dollars in the first quarter of 2012. Underlying profit (EBITDA) declined to 20.4 million pounds from 22.3 million in the 2011 period. Commercial income rose and overtook revenues from matchday and media, thanks to new sponsorship agreements including one with logistics company DHL.
United, owned by the American Glazer family and who have won the English title a record 19 times, have an estimated 330 million fans globally – its website says it is the world’s most popular team.
The club put plans to float in Singapore on hold last year because of market volatility, and there has been speculation that the plan could be revived.
The success of Manchester City, bankrolled by Abu Dhabi Sheikh Mansour Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, has put the spotlight back on how the Glazers are running United.