Manchester United announce record revenues - but still make a loss

Manchester United have announced record revenues of £666.5m for the 2024/25 season - but still made an overall loss of £33m.

The club were without Champions League football last season and finished 15th in the Premier League – their lowest top-flight finish in 51 years. But despite a lack of on-field success, United still saw revenue marginally increase by 0.7% to £666.5m.

United bosses have hailed their five-year shirt sponsorship with Snapdragon as the most valuable of its kind in world sport, and that played a significant role in boosting revenues with four years remaining on the deal. The club posted record commercial revenues of £333.3m, and achieved record matchday revenues of £160.3m.

Broadcasting revenue, however, fell by £48.9m to £172.9m after the men's team played in the Europa League rather than the Champions League. The club said they spent £36.6m in terms of exceptional items, which included pay-offs to employees as part of their "transformation plan" along with former boss Erik ten Hag and his staff.

The accounts released on Wednesday for the year ending 30 June 2025 also showed United's operating loss fell from £69.3m to £18.4m compared with the previous 12 months. Employee expenses were down by 14.1%, from £51.5m to £313.2m.

This was achieved by several high-earning players, who were not part of the first-team plans, going out on loan or being sold. It was also down to wider club restructuring.

More than 250 members of staff at Old Trafford were made redundant in the first round of cuts. Overall losses dropped from £113.2m to £33m after co-owner Sir Jim Ratcliffe oversaw some wide-ranging, and often unpopular, changes at a club he claimed in March had "gone one off the rails" as a business.

The British billionaire, who is the founder, chairman and CEO of petrochemicals empire INEOS, even warned United would have gone "bust at Christmas" if they had not taken "really tough decisions". Read more from Sky News:Food inflation at 18-month highTrump to sign US-UK tech dealBen & Jerry's founder quits 'Priority is success on the pitch' United's chief executive Omar Berrada said the club was "emerging from a period of structural and leadership change with a refreshed, streamlined organisation equipped to deliver on our sporting and commercial objectives".

"To have generated record revenues during such a challenging year for the club demonstrates the resilience which is a hallmark of Manchester United," he said. "As we start to feel the benefits of our cost-reduction programme, there is significant potential for improved financial performance, which will, in turn, support our overriding priority: success on the pitch." United are expecting the next financial year to bring in revenue of £640m to £660m despite being without European football for the first time since 2014/15..