Manchester United post record first-quarter revenues

Manchester United have posted first-quarter revenues of £141million, a 17 per cent increase on the same period last year.

The Red Devils, who became the first British club to break the £500m mark in revenue in 2016, enjoyed a boost in earnings thanks largely to a return to the Champions League.

United's broadcasting and matchday revenue jumped by 30.9 per cent and 33.3 per cent respectively compared to the first quarter of the previous year, while commercial income increased in part due to a lucrative pre-season tour of the United States.

The club enjoyed an operating profit of £15.2m, up 145 per cent from 12 months ago. This is despite an increase in "employee benefit" and operating expenses, which the club said is due to "player salary uplifts due to participation in the UEFA Champions League", as well as the increased number of total fixtures.

United earned £17.3m in the "disposal of intangible assets", which is believed to comprise the fee paid by Real Sociedad for Adnan Januzaj and reported sell-on clause payments for the transfers of academy graduates Michael Keane to Everton and Danny Drinkwater to Chelsea.

Net debt also decreased by £69.6m to £268.1m, despite them spending close to £145m on Romelu Lukaku, Nemanja Matic and Victor Lindelof in the transfer window.

Executive vice-chairman Ed Woodward said: "We are just over a quarter of the way through what promises to be another exciting season.

"In the Champions League, we have won all four games played to date; we are through to the quarter-final of the Carabao Cup [EFL Cup]; and are looking forward to the next few months as the number of matches ramps up."