Manchester United's profits got cut in half because it spent so much on big-name players.
Here are some of the headline figures from today's results, which take into account the three months to the end of September:
- Revenues up 39.3% to £123.6 million ($187.7 million)
- Matchday revenues grew by 64.2% to £24.8 million ($37.7 million)
- Sponsorship revenues were £46.3 million ($70.3 million)
- Profits down from £8.9 million ($13.5 million) to £4.9 million ($7.4 million)
United's revenue numbers have been pushed up by the football team's return to the world's most prestigious club tournament, the Champions' League.
This is especially true with regards to matchday revenues. Not only does the side have more games that it can sell tickets for, but it can also charge more for tickets at these games thanks to the prestige of the tournament.
Prior to this season, the club had spent two years away from top level competition due to poor performances in the league following the departure of legendary manager Sir Alex Ferguson.
While revenues grew strongly, profits dropped by almost 44% thanks to a big summer of spending on new players. United made a net loss of £7.4 million ($11.2 million) in the transfer market, thanks to buying big name players like Memphis Depay, Morgan Schneiderlin, and Matteo Darmian this summer. Over the same period last year, United made a profit of £18.3 million ($27.8 million) on players.
All those new players also helped to push up the club's overall wage bill, which grew by 19.2% to £58.9 million ($89.4 million)
Club executive vice chairman Ed Woodward commented on the results, saying that they "demonstrate the continued strength of our businesses."
Manchester United - which is owned by the Glazer family, an American family which owns several sports teams - is the only British football team to be publicly listed, following its flotation on the New York Stock Exchange in 2012.