Olawale Adam
Manchester United has announced that the Novel Corona Virus Crises had cost them the loss of £23 millions revenue.
United claimed that most of the money will have to returned back to broadcasters because of football’s shutdown during the pandemic.
United’s chief financial officer Cliff Baty made the prounouncement to stakeholders in a conference call to announce the club’s results for the third quarter.
According to cliff ha said “Given the delay caused by COVID-19 to the playing schedule, we anticipate that the revenues from the Premier League for completion of the 2019/20 season will be reduced, as discussions remain ongoing with broadcasters”.
“For Manchester United, we have estimated this reduction to be around £20million for a full season of 38 games. At the third quarter, we have provided for a £15million reduction to our broadcasting revenues to reflect this impact for the 29 games played to-date.
“In total, for the third quarter, we estimate that COVID-19 had a negative impact of roughly £23million on our revenues, reflecting the broadcast reduction previously mentioned, the postponement of a both an away EPL fixture and a home Europa League fixture, closure of Red Café, United Events and Megastore operations since mid-March.”
United made a loss of £3.3million during the first three months of the year as total revenue fell 18.7 per cent from £152.1million to £123.7million.
Net debt jumped by 42.2 per cent from £301.7million to £429.1million, a rise of £127.4million due to a decrease in cash and adverse movements in the exchange rate between the pound and the dollar.
Vice-chairman Ed Woodward said “There are still profound challenges ahead, and for football as a whole, and it is safe to say it will not be ‘business as usual’ for some time,” as he told investors on the conference call.
