Manchester United Parent Firm Loses £109m in 2010

Manchester United's parent company made a loss of £108.9m in 2009-10, according to newly released financial results.

Red Football Joint Venture is the Glazer family parent company that owns the Old Trafford club.

Its loss, for the year to July 2010, includes one-off costs from setting up a £526m bond scheme last January to replace outstanding debts of £509m.

There was also a drop in player sale income, compared to the previous summer when Cristiano Ronaldo was sold.

That Ronaldo sale had netted the club £80m in the summer of 2009, and had contributed to a £21m profit the previous year.

Losses in 2010 included £30.2m interest on their £220m payment in kind (PIK) loans which have now been repaid.

Manchester United's club accounts were published in October and revealed losses of £83.6m.

The club is currently top of the Premier League, in the FA Cup semi-final, and in the Champions League quarter final, all of which offer revenues in terms of prize money and television monies.

Earlier this month Manchester United chief executive David Gill told a Commons committee hearing into football governance that he was "comfortable" with the club's financial situation, including debt and interest repayment levels.

Mr Gill told the hearing that net debt of £370m and annual interest of £45m was not hampering United.

And he said that under club owners, the Glazer family, revenues had risen from £40m in 2006 to more than £100m.

In February it was revealed there had been a transfer of the ultimate parent company of the club, Red Football LLC, from Nevada to Delaware.

That has raised fears about the ultimate ownership of the club, as companies' beneficial ownership information is not registered in the small US state.

But Mr Gill insisted that "the ultimate owners, 100%, are the Glazer family".