Reds’ boom goes on but the Glazer drain continues
“There is only one Manchester United,” said Richard Arnold, the Reds’ Commercial Director last month. Indeed, the club’s first quarter results, published Tuesday, once again demonstrated the cash generating monster it has become, with yet another quarter of increased turnover posted. Thanks in part to an aggressive regionalised commercial strategy, the club is generating more income than ever before. Yet amid the Old Trafford back-slapping the truly eye-watering waste enforced on United by the Glazer regime is once again revealed.
United’s financial year Q1 results showed a 17 per cent year-on-year (YoY) increase in revenues to £73.8 million in the quarter, with matchday income up nine per cent, largely thanks to the bigger US tour conducted this past summer. Meanwhile, higher Champions League pool payments led to a 17 per cent YoY increase in media income, with a 22 per cent increase in commercial income over the same period. The latter is largely thanks to the continued aggressive commercialisation of the United brand, including a £40 million four-year deal struck with DHL to sponsor the Reds’ training kit.
Amid the positive news, there are also plenty of negatives for the Glazers’ bean counters to ponder. Staff costs grew by 12.2 per cent YoY, with player remuneration increasing despite several senior squad members leaving in the summer. New contracts awarded to Park Ji-Sung, Javier Hernández, Antonio Valencia, Chris Smalling and Tom Cleverley demonstrate that wage inflation is continuing unabated in football no matter the financial chaos in the wider economy.
All this adds up to a strong EBITDA (earnings before interest, tax, deductions and amortisation) of £19.2 million for the quarter, increasing 30 per cent on the previous year, with a margin of more than 26 per cent.
Meanwhile, United’s cash position, which is typically very cyclical, was down significantly from £151 million at the end of the last financial year in June, to £65 million in Q1. United’s cash balance is always highest during the summer, while heavy spending on transfers and debt reduced the pile. The club spent £47.1 million on player transfers during the last window, £21 million on interest and £8.2 million buying properties around Old Trafford. The latter increases the amount of land the club now owns around the stadiumd, with no genuine explanation of the strategy forthcoming. They’re certainly very expensive car parks.
Although bond debt is almost £100 million less than at its peak, net debt is actually £3 million higher YoY – something not widely reported. In fact in the three months to 30 September, the club posted a £6.9 million accounting loss, in part due to increased financing costs and forex changes. The cash cow continues to be profitable until debt is factored into the equation.
Leaving all the dry accounting speak aside, United is a very strong business, with a balance sheet ruined by debt. Although the Glazer family continues to spend United’s cash buying back bonds, and paying themselves ‘management fees’ (more than £16 million in the final quarter of the last financial year), the hyper-commercialisation of the club continues unabated. United’s appeal is global in scope, with brands keen to leverage United’s reach to the reported 330 million fans worldwide. That DHL is spending so much to sponsor the club’s training kit underlines the transformation of the club’s commercial strategy under the Glazer regime.
Yet, the cost to the club of having the Glazers as owners continues to rise. Including interest spent, management fees paid, and debt repayments made, the family has now cost the club around £580 million in aggregate over six years, according to blogger Andersred. It’s a story of staggering waste – paid for, in large part, by the fans through higher ticket prices. And it is a picture unlikely to change in the near future, with the mooted Asian IPO on hold while global financial markets remain in turmoil.
And while the Glazer family draws praise for the aggressive and largely successful commercial strategy, criticism is certainly due elsewhere. The logic of swapping bank debt, at great cost, for bond debt that earns a higher yield has never been explained Unless, of course, the plan was to take a very large dividend, before the Glazers were spooked by the ‘Green & Gold’ movement. Securing seven-year bond debt, and buying large chunks back within two years, is equally inexplicable as a coherent financial strategy.
It will come as no surprise then that the Manchester United Supporters Trust (MUST) reacted with anger to the latest set of results.
“Revenue continues to grow building on the platform laid down by Sir Alex Ferguson over 25 years of unparalleled success,” MUST ceo Duncan Drasdo told the Mirror.
“However a key concern for supporters is that on top of the hundreds of millions lost in interest and fees resulting from the Glazers’ ownership we are now seeing huge amounts of additional money being paid out of the club’s cash reserves being spent on buying the bond debt incurred by the Glazers. That is the Glazers’ debt, that they dumped on our debt-free club and they are now using club funds to pay for it. A sum exceeding ‘The Ronaldo money’ they claimed would remain available for transfers has now been spent and this is on top of the £100s of millions in interest and fees already wasted.”
Even taking into account the approximate £100 million in Corportation Tax saved during the Glazer era, the damaging effect of debt is clear. That United is financially strong enough to survive more than half-a-billion pounds wasted is one thing. The moral, financial and strategic legitimacy of the waste is quite another.
Moreover, in the post-Sir Alex Ferguson era, when United will no longer be able to draw on the Scot’s brilliance, the club will face a plethora of challenges on and off the pitch. Rival clubs will mirror the Glazers’ commercial strategy, potentially eating into United’s market share, while the Reds cannot compete with the external wealth brought to Manchester City and Chelsea, let alone the TV revenue secure by European rivals Real Madrid and Barcelona.
This is a truism that many supporters will have to face in the years ahead.