Manchester United plc 2018 Third Quarter Results

MANCHESTER, England--()--Manchester United (NYSE: MANU; the “Company” and the “Group”) – one of the most popular and successful sports teams in the world - today announced financial results for the 2018 fiscal third quarter and nine months ended 31 March 2018.

Highlights

  • Progressed to the FA Cup Final for a record-equalling 20th time
  • Became the fastest growing sports club channel to launch on Youtube
  • Revenue for the quarter £137.5m – up 8% from third quarter 2017
  • Four sponsorship deals announced in the quarter
    • PingAn (Financial Services)
    • Science in Sport (Regional)
    • Renewal of Cho-A-Pharm (Regional)
    • Extension of Mlily (Global)

Commentary

Ed Woodward, Executive Vice Chairman, commented, “As another season nears its close, we have achieved our highest number of points and finish since 2012/13 and we look forward to another trip to Wembley. We anticipate another successful summer tour in the United States in preparation for the 2018/19 season.”

Outlook

For fiscal 2018, Manchester United continues to expect:

  • Revenue to be £575m to £585m.
  • Adjusted EBITDA to be £175m to £185m.

Key Financials (unaudited)

£ million (except (loss)/earnings per share)     Three months ended

31 March

            Nine months ended

31 March

     
      2018     2017     Change       2018     2017     Change
Commercial revenue     66.7     66.5     0.3%       212.6     207.6     2.4%
Broadcasting revenue     39.7     31.4     26.4%       139.4     113.0     23.4%
Matchday revenue     31.1     29.3     6.1%       90.4     84.7     6.7%
Total revenue     137.5     127.2     8.1%       442.4     405.3     9.2%
Adjusted EBITDA1     36.1     30.0     20.3%       140.5     130.2     7.9%
Operating (loss)/profit     (2.3)     (4.1)     (43.9%)       41.6     39.7     4.8%
 
Profit/(loss) for the period (i.e. net income/(loss))2     0.1     (3.8)     -       (21.0)     14.9     -
Basic earnings/(loss) per share     0.07     (2.30)     -       (12.81)     9.10     -
Adjusted (loss)/profit for the period (i.e. adjusted net (loss)/income)1     (5.4)     (6.3)     (14.3%)       18.2     11.8     54.2%
Adjusted basic (loss)/ earnings per share (pence)1     (3.30)     (3.84)     (14.1%)       11.10     7.22     53.7%
 
Net debt1/3     301.3     366.3     (17.7%)       301.3     366.3     (17.7%)

1 Adjusted EBITDA, adjusted (loss)/profit for the period, adjusted basic (loss)/earnings per share and net debt are non-IFRS measures. See “Non-IFRS Measures: Definitions and Use” below and the accompanying Supplemental Notes for the definitions and reconciliations for these non-IFRS measures and the reasons we believe these measures provide useful information to investors regarding the Group’s financial condition and results of operations.

2 The US federal corporate income tax rate reduced from 35% to 21% following the substantive enactment of US tax reform on 22 December 2017. This necessitated a re-measurement of the existing US deferred tax position in the period to 31 December 2017. As a result the loss for the nine months ended 31 March 2018 includes a non-cash tax accounting write off of £48.8 million.

3 The gross USD debt principal remains unchanged.

Revenue Analysis

Commercial
Commercial revenue for the quarter was £66.7 million, an increase of £0.2 million, or 0.3%, over the prior year quarter.

  • Sponsorship revenue for the quarter was £41.7 million, a decrease of £0.1 million, or 0.2%, over the prior year quarter;
  • Retail, Merchandising, Apparel & Product Licensing revenue for the quarter was £25.0 million, an increase of £0.3 million, or 1.2%, over the prior year quarter.

Broadcasting
Broadcasting revenue for the quarter was £39.7 million, an increase of £8.3 million, or 26.4%, over the prior year quarter, primarily due to playing one additional PL home game and two additional PL games being broadcast live.

Matchday
Matchday revenue for the quarter was £31.1 million, an increase of £1.8 million, or 6.1%, over the prior year quarter, primarily due to playing an additional PL home game, partially offset by playing fewer domestic cup games.

Other Financial Information

Operating expenses
Total operating expenses for the quarter were £136.4 million, an increase of £6.6 million, or 5.1%, over the prior year quarter.

Employee benefit expenses
Employee benefit expenses for the quarter were £75.1 million, an increase of £8.6 million, or 12.9%, over the prior year quarter, primarily due to player salary uplifts related to participation in the UEFA Champions League.

Other operating expenses
Other operating expenses for the quarter were £26.3 million, a decrease of £4.4 million, or 14.3%, over the prior year quarter, reflecting lower home domestic cup gate share costs, reduced travel costs and a reduction in foreign exchange losses.

Depreciation & amortization
Depreciation for the quarter was £2.6 million, an increase of £0.1 million, or 4.0%, over the prior year quarter. Amortization for the quarter was £32.4 million, an increase of £2.3 million, or 7.6%, over the prior year quarter. The unamortized balance of registrations at 31 March 2018 was £321.3 million.

Loss on disposal of intangible assets
Loss on disposal of intangible assets for the quarter was £3.4 million compared to £1.5 million in the prior year quarter.

Net finance income/(costs)
Net finance income for the quarter was £1.0 million, compared to net finance costs of £3.3 million in the prior year quarter, primarily due to unrealized foreign exchange gains on unhedged USD borrowings.

Tax
The tax credit for the quarter was £1.4 million, compared to £3.6 million in the prior year quarter.

Cash flows
Overall cash and cash equivalents (including the effects of exchange rate changes) increased by £6.4 million in the quarter compared to an increase of £29.9 million in the prior year quarter.

Net cash generated from operating activities for the quarter was £21.2 million, a decrease of £18.6 million over the prior year quarter.

Net capital expenditure on property, plant and equipment for the quarter was £1.0 million, a decrease of £1.6 million over the prior year quarter.

Net capital proceeds on intangible assets for the quarter were £1.3 million, a decrease of £5.3 million over the prior year quarter.

Net debt
Net debt as of 31 March 2018 was £301.3 million, a decrease of £65.0 million over the year. The gross USD debt principal remains unchanged.

Dividend
A semi-annual dividend of $0.09 per share was paid during the quarter. A further semi-annual dividend of $0.09 per share will be paid on 5 June 2018, to shareholders of record on 27 April 2018. The stock began trading ex-dividend on 26 April 2018.

Conference Call Information

The Company’s conference call to review third quarter fiscal 2018 results will be broadcast live over the internet today, 17 May 2018 at 8:00 a.m. Eastern Time and will be available on Manchester United’s investor relations website at http://ir.manutd.com. Thereafter, a replay of the webcast will be available for thirty days.

About Manchester United

Manchester United is one of the most popular and successful sports teams in the world, playing one of the most popular spectator sports on Earth.

Through our 140-year heritage we have won 66 trophies, enabling us to develop what we believe is one of the world’s leading sports brands and a global community of 659 million followers. Our large, passionate community provides Manchester United with a worldwide platform to generate significant revenue from multiple sources, including sponsorship, merchandising, product licensing, broadcasting and matchday.

Cautionary Statement

This press release contains forward-looking statements. You should not place undue reliance on such statements because they are subject to numerous risks and uncertainties relating to the Company’s operations and business environment, all of which are difficult to predict and many are beyond the Company’s control. Forward-looking statements include information concerning the Company’s possible or assumed future results of operations, including descriptions of its business strategy. These statements often include words such as “may,” “might,” “will,” “could,” “would,” “should,” “expect,” “plan,” “anticipate,” “intend,” “seek,” “believe,” “estimate,” “predict,” “potential,” “continue,” “contemplate,” “possible” or similar expressions. The forward-looking statements contained in this press release are based on our current expectations and estimates of future events and trends, which affect or may affect our businesses and operations. You should understand that these statements are not guarantees of performance or results. They involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and assumptions. Although the Company believes that these forward-looking statements are based on reasonable assumptions, you should be aware that many factors could affect its actual financial results or results of operations and could cause actual results to differ materially from those in these forward-looking statements. These factors are more fully discussed in the “Risk Factors” section and elsewhere in the Company’s Registration Statement on Form F-1, as amended (File No. 333-182535) and the Company’s Annual Report on Form 20-F (File No. 001-35627).

Non-IFRS Measures: Definitions and Use

1. Adjusted EBITDA
Adjusted EBITDA is defined as profit/(loss) for the period before depreciation, amortization, profit/(loss) on disposal of intangible assets, exceptional items, net finance costs, and tax.

We believe Adjusted EBITDA is useful as a measure of comparative operating performance from period to period and among companies as it is reflective of changes in pricing decisions, cost controls and other factors that affect operating performance, and it removes the effect of our asset base (primarily depreciation and amortization), capital structure (primarily finance costs), and items outside the control of our management (primarily taxes). Adjusted EBITDA has limitations as an analytical tool, and you should not consider it in isolation, or as a substitute for an analysis of our results as reported under IFRS as issued by the IASB. A reconciliation of profit/(loss) for the period to Adjusted EBITDA is presented in supplemental note 2.

2. Adjusted (loss)/profit for the period (i.e. adjusted net (loss)/income)
Adjusted (loss)/profit for the period is calculated, where appropriate, by adjusting for charges/credits related to exceptional items, foreign exchange gains/losses on unhedged US dollar denominated borrowings, and fair value movements on derivative financial instruments, adding/subtracting the actual tax expense/credit for the period, and subtracting/adding the adjusted tax expense/credit for the period (based on a normalized tax rate of 28%; 2017: 35%). The normalized tax rate of 28% was the weighted average US federal corporate income tax rate applicable during the financial year.

We believe that in assessing the comparative performance of the business, in order to get a clearer view of the underlying financial performance of the business, it is useful to strip out the distorting effects of the items referred to above and then to apply a ‘normalized’ tax rate (for both the current and prior periods) of the weighted average US federal income tax rate of 28% (2017: 35%) applicable during the financial year. A reconciliation of profit/(loss) for the period to adjusted (loss)/profit for the period is presented in supplemental note 3.

3. Adjusted basic and diluted (loss)/earnings per share 
Adjusted basic and diluted (loss)/earnings per share are calculated by dividing the adjusted (loss)/profit for the period by the weighted average number of ordinary shares in issue during the period. Adjusted diluted (loss)/earnings per share is calculated by adjusting the weighted average number of ordinary shares in issue during the period to assume conversion of all dilutive potential ordinary shares. We have one category of dilutive potential ordinary shares: share awards pursuant to the 2012 Equity Incentive Plan (the “Equity Plan”). Share awards pursuant to the Equity Plan are assumed to have been converted into ordinary shares at the beginning of the financial year. Adjusted basic and diluted (loss)/earnings per share are presented in supplemental note 3.

4. Net debt
Net debt is calculated as non-current and current borrowings minus cash and cash equivalents.


Key Performance Indicators

        Three months ended       Nine months ended
      31 March       31 March    
        2018       2017       2018       2017    
Commercial % of total revenue       48.5%       52.3%       48.1%       51.2%    
Broadcasting % of total revenue       28.9%       24.7%       31.5%       27.9%    
Matchday % of total revenue       22.6%       23.0%       20.4%       20.9%    
Home Matches Played                                    
PL       5       4       16       14    
UEFA competitions       1       2       4       5    
Domestic Cups       2       3       3       5    
Away Matches Played                                    
UEFA competitions       1       2       5       5    
Domestic Cups       2       4       4       5    
     
Other                                    
Employees at period end       930       888       930       888    
Employee benefit expenses % of revenue       54.6%       52.3%       48.5%       47.5%    
                                           
Phasing of Premier League home games   Quarter 1       Quarter 2       Quarter 3       Quarter 4       Total    
2017/18 season   4       7       5       3       19  
2016/17 season   3       7       4       5       19    
 
       
 

CONSOLIDATED INCOME STATEMENT

(unaudited; in £ thousands, except per share and shares outstanding data)

 
Three months ended

31 March

Nine months ended

31 March

    2018     2017       2018     2017  
Revenue 137,469   127,197 442,411   405,268
Operating expenses (136,411 ) (129,799 ) (415,699 ) (373,197 )
(Loss)/profit on disposal of intangible assets     (3,446 )   (1,521 )     14,846     7,599  
Operating (loss)/profit     (2,388 )   (4,123 )     41,558     39,670  
Finance costs (5,935 ) (6,334 ) (18,293 ) (21,605 )
Finance income     7,027     3,056       14,239     424  
Net finance income/(costs)     1,092     (3,278 )     (4,054 )   (21,181 )
(Loss)/profit before tax (1,296 ) (7,401 ) 37,504 18,489
Tax credit/(expense) 1     1,404     3,632       (58,535 )   (3,564 )
Profit/(loss) for the period 1     108     (3,769 )     (21,031 )   14,925  
 
Basic earnings/(loss) per share:
Basic earnings/(loss) per share (pence) 1 0.07 (2.30 ) (12.81 ) 9.10
Weighted average number of ordinary shares outstanding (thousands) 164,195 164,025 164,195 164,025
Diluted earnings/(loss) per share:
Diluted earnings/(loss) per share (pence)1/2 0.07 (2.30 ) (12.81 ) 9.08
Weighted average number of ordinary shares outstanding (thousands)     164,591     164,448       164,591     164,448  

1 The US federal corporate income tax rate reduced from 35% to 21% following the substantive enactment of US tax reform on 22 December 2017. This necessitated a re-measurement of the existing US deferred tax position in the period to 31 December 2017. As a result the tax expense for the nine months ended 31 March 2018 includes a non-cash tax accounting write off of £48.8 million. Accordingly, this has resulted in a loss for the nine months ended 31 March 2018 and basic and diluted loss per share.

2 For the nine months ended 31 March 2018 and the three months ended 31 March 2017 potential ordinary shares are anti-dilutive, as their inclusion in the diluted loss per share calculation would reduce the loss per share, and hence have been excluded.

                       

CONSOLIDATED BALANCE SHEET

(unaudited; in £ thousands)

 
              As of

31 March

2018

      As of

30 June

2017

      As of

31 March

2017

ASSETS
Non-current assets
Property, plant and equipment 245,186 244,738 244,137
Investment property 13,869 13,966 14,017
Intangible assets 752,016 717,544 707,578
Derivative financial instruments 3,404 1,666 2,127
Trade and other receivables 5,618 15,399 14,983
Tax receivable 1,033 - -
Deferred tax asset             80,409         142,107         144,329  
              1,101,535         1,135,420         1,127,171  
Current assets
Inventories 1,398 1,637 1,348
Derivative financial instruments 2,799 3,218 3,977
Trade and other receivables 90,567 103,732 86,290
Tax receivable 258 - 375
Cash and cash equivalents             161,717         290,267         152,653  
              256,739         398,854         244,643  
Total assets             1,358,274         1,534,274         1,371,814  
 

CONSOLIDATED BALANCE SHEET (continued)

(unaudited; in £ thousands)

 
              As of

31 March

2018

      As of

30 June

2017

      As of

31 March

2017

EQUITY AND LIABILITIES
Equity
Share capital 53 53 52
Share premium 68,822 68,822 68,822
Merger reserve 249,030 249,030 249,030
Hedging reserve (12,682 ) (31,724 ) (37,997 )
Retained earnings             161,296         191,436         177,904  
              466,519         477,617         457,811  
Non-current liabilities
Derivative financial instruments - 655 1,398
Trade and other payables 74,998 83,587 63,744
Borrowings 457,011 497,630 516,286
Deferred revenue 32,208 39,648 34,142
Deferred tax liabilities             33,891         20,828         12,092  
              598,108         642,348         627,662  
Current liabilities
Derivative financial instruments - 1,253 2,418
Tax liabilities 2,166 9,772 5,296
Trade and other payables 208,840 190,315 176,427
Borrowings 5,960 5,724 2,700
Deferred revenue            

76,681

        207,245         99,500  
              293,647         414,309         286,341  
Total equity and liabilities             1,358,274         1,534,274         1,371,814  
 

CONSOLIDATED STATEMENT OF CASH FLOWS

(unaudited; in £ thousands)

         
Three months ended

31 March

Nine months ended

31 March

        2018       2017       2018       2017  
Cash flows from operating activities        
Cash generated from operations (see supplemental note 4) 28,743 48,070 17,254 71,220
Interest paid (7,210 ) (8,116 ) (16,849 ) (17,763 )
Interest received 266 113 654 424
Tax paid       (620 )     (290 )     (6,388 )     (3,953 )
Net cash generated from/(used in) operating activities       21,179       39,777       (5,329 )     49,928  
Cash flows from investing activities
Payments for property, plant and equipment (998 ) (2,644 ) (9,585 ) (6,352 )
Proceeds from sale of property, plant and equipment - - 75 -
Payments for investment property - - - (659 )
Payments for intangible assets (6,812 ) (4,871 ) (135,933 ) (170,282 )
Proceeds from sale of intangible assets       8,203       11,537       40,645       50,605  
Net cash generated from/(used in) investing activities       393       4,022       (104,798 )     (126,688 )
Cash flows from financing activities
Repayment of borrowings (106 ) (101 ) (312 ) (295 )
Dividends paid       (10,929 )     (11,824 )     (10,929 )     (11,824 )
Net cash used in financing activities       (11,035 )     (11,925 )     (11,241 )     (12,119 )
Net increase/(decrease) in cash and cash equivalents 10,537 31,874 (121,368 ) (88,879 )
Cash and cash equivalents at beginning of period 155,312 122,704 290,267 229,194
Effects of exchange rate changes on cash and cash equivalents       (4,132 )     (1,925 )     (7,182 )     12,338  
Cash and cash equivalents at end of period       161,717       152,653       161,717       152,653  
 

SUPPLEMENTAL NOTES

1 General information

Manchester United plc (the “Company”) and its subsidiaries (together the “Group”) is a professional football club together with related and ancillary activities. The Company incorporated under the Companies Law (2011 Revision) of the Cayman Islands, as amended and restated from time to time.

2 Reconciliation of profit/(loss) for the period to Adjusted EBITDA

      Three months ended

31 March

    Nine months ended

31 March

       

2018

£’000

      2017

£’000

     

2018

£’000

      2017

£’000

 
Profit/(loss) for the period 108     (3,769 ) (21,031 )     14,925
Adjustments:
Tax (credit)/expense (1,404 ) (3,632 ) 58,535 3,564
Net finance (income)/costs (1,092 ) 3,278 4,054 21,181
Loss/(profit) on disposal of intangible assets 3,446 1,521 (14,846 ) (7,599 )
Exceptional credit - - - (4,753 )
Amortization 32,400 30,138 105,789 95,159
Depreciation       2,622       2,458       7,951       7,721  
Adjusted EBITDA       36,080       29,994       140,452       130,198  
 

3 Reconciliation of profit/(loss) for the period to adjusted (loss)/profit for the period and adjusted basic and diluted (loss)/earnings per share

  Three months ended

31 March

    Nine months ended

31 March

 

  2018

£’000

    2017

£’000

      2018

£’000

    2017

£’000

 
Profit/(loss) for the period 108   (3,769 ) (21,031 )   14,925
Exceptional items - - - (4,753 )
Foreign exchange (gains)/losses on unhedged US dollar borrowings (6,761 ) (2,943 ) (13,585 ) 4,151
Fair value movement on derivative financial instruments 539 645 1,384 344
Tax (credit)/expense   (1,404 )   (3,632 )     58,535     3,564  
Adjusted (loss)/profit before tax (7,518 ) (9,699 ) 25,303 18,231

Adjusted tax credit/(expense) (using a normalized tax rate of 28% (2017: 35%))

  2,105     3,395       (7,085 )   (6,381 )
Adjusted (loss)/profit for the period (i.e. adjusted net (loss)/income)   (5,413 )   (6,304 )     18,218     11,850  
 
Adjusted basic (loss)/earnings per share:
Adjusted basic (loss)/earnings per share (pence) (3.30 ) (3.84 ) 11.10 7.22
Weighted average number of ordinary shares outstanding (thousands) 164,195 164,025 164,195 164,025
Adjusted diluted (loss)/earnings per share:
Adjusted diluted (loss)/earnings per share (pence)1 (3.30 ) (3.84 ) 11.07 7.21
Weighted average number of ordinary shares outstanding (thousands)   164,591     164,448       164,591     164,448  

1 For the three months ended 31 March 2018 and 31 March 2017 potential ordinary shares are anti-dilutive, as their inclusion in the diluted loss per share calculation would reduce the loss per share, and hence have been excluded.

4 Cash generated from operations

      Three months ended

31 March

      Nine months ended

31 March

        2018

£’000

        2017

£’000

        2018

£’000

        2017

£’000

 
Profit/(loss) for the period 108       (3,769 ) (21,031 )       14,925
Tax (credit)/expense       (1,404 )       (3,632 )       58,535         3,564  
(Loss)/profit before tax (1,296 ) (7,401 ) 37,504 18,489
Depreciation 2,622 2,458 7,951 7,721
Amortization 32,400 30,138 105,789 95,159
Reversal of impairment - - - (4,753 )
Loss/(profit) on disposal of intangible assets 3,446 1,521 (14,846 ) (7,599 )
Net finance (income)/costs (1,092 ) 3,278 4,054 21,181
Profit on disposal of property, plant and equipment - - (75 ) -
Equity-settled share-based payments 617 498 1,820 1,436
Foreign exchange losses on operating activities 200 1,526 1,200 2,404
Reclassified from hedging reserve 3,772 1,161 11,480 2,407
Changes in working capital:
Inventories 520 (255 ) 239 (422 )
Trade and other receivables 15,431 51,887 7,268 33,270
Trade and other payables and deferred revenue       (27,877 )       (36,741 )       (145,130 )       (98,073 )
Cash generated from operations       28,743         48,070         17,254         71,220  
 

Contacts

Manchester United plc
Investor Relations:
Cliff Baty
Chief Financial Officer
+44 161 868 8650
ir@manutd.co.uk
or
Manchester United plc
Media:
Philip Townsend
+44 161 868 8148
philip.townsend@manutd.co.uk
or
Sard Verbinnen & Co
Jim Barron / Devin Broda
+ 1 212 687 8080
JBarron@SARDVERB.com
dbroda@SARDVERB.com

Contacts

Manchester United plc
Investor Relations:
Cliff Baty
Chief Financial Officer
+44 161 868 8650
ir@manutd.co.uk
or
Manchester United plc
Media:
Philip Townsend
+44 161 868 8148
philip.townsend@manutd.co.uk
or
Sard Verbinnen & Co
Jim Barron / Devin Broda
+ 1 212 687 8080
JBarron@SARDVERB.com
dbroda@SARDVERB.com