Manchester United Q1 Profit Down; Reaffirms FY16 Outlook

(RTTNews) - English football giant Manchester United Plc. (MANU) reported that its net income for the first-quarter declined about 44% from last year, while total revenue increased 39% from the prior year. It reaffirmed outlook for fiscal 2016.

Ed Woodward, Executive Vice Chairman, said, "Our record first quarter revenues and EBITDA demonstrate the continued strength of our businesses. We are delighted with the early progress made in licensing. During the quarter we entered into an agreement with HCL to be our Digital Transformation partner, which will enable us to connect with our fans around the world in innovative ways and further strengthen and grow our commercial revenues."

Looking ahead for fiscal 2016, Manchester United continues to expect adjusted EBITDA to be in the range of 165 million pounds - 175 million pounds and revenue of 500 million pounds - 510 million pounds.

Profit before tax for the first-quarter declined to 5.18 million pounds from 8.11 million pounds in the prior year.

Profit for the quarter dropped to 4.96 million pounds from 8.94 million pounds last year. Earnings per share were 3.02 pence lower than the previous year's 5.45 pence.

Adjusted earnings per share dropped to 1.63 pence from 2.59 pence in the prior year.

Total operating expenses for the quarter were 106.7 million pounds, an increase of 15.0%, over the prior year quarter.

Employee benefit expenses for the quarter were 58.9 million pounds, an increase of 19.2%, over the prior year quarter due primarily to increased player wages resulting from renewals of existing contracts, coupled with an uplift from participation in the UEFA Champions League.

Adjusted Earnings Before Interest, Tax, Depreciation and Amortization or EBITDA was 41.6 million pounds compared to 20.3 million pounds last year.

Quarterly revenue rose to 123.56 million pounds from 88.67 million pounds in the previous year.

Commercial revenue for the first quarter was 71.2 million pounds, an increase of 14.4 million pounds, or 25.4%, over the prior year quarter.

Broadcasting revenue for the first quarter was 27.6 million pounds, an increase of 10.8 million pounds or 64.3%, over the prior year quarter, primarily due to participation in the UEFA Champions League, one additional FAPL home game, and one additional FAPL live broadcast game in the current quarter.

The Board of Directors approved a quarterly cash dividend on the Company's outstanding Class A and Class B ordinary shares of $0.045 per share, payable on 7 January 2016, to shareholders of record on 30 November 2015. The stock will begin to trade ex-dividend on 25 November 2015.