Manchester United becomes first UK football club to break £500m annual revenue

Premier League club Manchester United released its 2016 financial results on Monday, becoming the first club from the UK to make over £500m in revenue.

Despite obvious frailties on the pitch during its 2015-16 season, the club managed to secure 14 sponsorship deals during the year, even without the allure of qualification for the prestigious UEFA Champions League competition.

Having invested heavily in new talent this summer under new head coach Jose Mourinho, the club are predicting 2017 revenues of anything up to £540m.

The Red Devils also revealed record-breaking operating profits of £68.9m, and adjusted core earnings of £191.9m.

Commercial revenue increased 36.3% to £268.3m which was helped by a new kit deal with Adidas, helping retail revenues rise 207.9%. Broadcasting revenue rose 30.4% to £140.4m and match-day revenues rose 17.7% to £106.6m.

Ed Woodward, executive vice-chairman of the club, said that its performance "reflects the continued underlying strength of the business and the club is on target to achieve record revenues in 2017, even without a contribution from the Champions League".

"This strong financial performance has enabled us to invest in our squad, team management and facilities to position us to challenge for, and win, trophies in the coming years," Woodward added.