English football club Manchester United plc (MANU), Thursday reported a profit for the third quarter that more-than tripled from a year ago, driven mainly by a tax credit and revenue growth.
The Manchester, England based club's third-quarter profit rose to 3.63 million pounds or 0.02 pound sterling per share from 1.04 million pounds or 0.01 pound sterling per share last year.
United recorded a tax credit of 6.7 million pounds in the quarter, compared to an expense of 1.7 million pounds a year earlier.
Manchester United, which has won the English Premier League this season, reported revenues of 91.7 million pounds, an increase of 29.5 percent from 70.8 million pounds last year. Revenue growth for the quarter was driven by growth across commercial, broadcasting and match-day revenues.
Commercial revenue rose 31.9 percent, as sponsorship revenues surged 52.2 percent to 21.0 million pounds with the addition of several new sponsorship deals. The club signed deals with Japanese company gloops, Denmark-based Ekspres Bank and Vietnamese bank BIDV.
Broadcasting revenue improved 28.4 percent to 21.7 million pounds, while match-day revenues rose 27.8 percent to 34.0 million pounds.
Ed Woodward, Executive Vice Chairman said, "Each of our three primary sectors - Commercial, Broadcasting and Matchday - delivered strong top-line gains and helped us achieve a record third quarter for both revenue and adjusted EBITDA."
Gross debt dropped 13.2 percent to 367.6 million pounds from $423.3 million pounds last year. The club's owner, the US-based Glazer family, were able to lower debt partially after holding an IPO in the New York Stock Exchange last year. The Glazer family have been under sever criticism from fans after the Florida-based owners loaded huge debts on to the club when they completed the 790 million pound takeover in 2005.
Staff costs for the third quarter rose 25.1 percent, year on year to 44.9 million pounds, as the club signed new players like Robin Van Persie and Shinji Kagawa, and signed new contracts with existing players with wage improvements.
Looking forward to the full year 2013, Manchester United continues to expect revenue to be in the range 350 million pounds to 360 million pounds.
MANU is currently trading at $18.99, up $0.58 or 3.15%, on the Nasdaq.
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