By David Owen
October 26 – Manchester United, the top English football brand still struggling to re-establish its former dominance of the Premier League under Louis van Gaal, its Dutch coach, has named a new chief financial officer with much experience in the betting industry.
Cliff Baty, 45, an Ernst & Young-trained chartered accountant, joins from Sportech, the pool betting operator and technology supplier that absorbed the traditional UK football pools industry in the years following the launch of the National Lottery in 1994.
Prior to that, he was at Ladbrokes, another betting company, and before that he served as group financial controller of the Hilton Group.
Ed Woodward, executive vice chairman of United, described Baty as “a proven finance executive who brings a wealth of international business experience”.
Baty arrives in a season in which the club is striving to reassert itself as a force in the European game after a year without Champions League football in 2014-15. They currently lie fourth in the Premier League table, after being held to a tame goalless draw at Old Trafford by their so-called “noisy neighbours” Manchester City, who top the league, on Sunday.
Last season’s absence of Champions League football has impacted financial results, with the club last month reporting a dip in revenue to below £400 million and a small pre-tax loss for the 12 months to June 30. Gross debt climbed nearly £70 million during the year to £411 million, partly reflecting the strengthening US dollar, though cash and cash equivalents more than doubled,
Future prospects are considerably better, with a new £750 million 10-year kit deal with Adidas launched in August, and the club calling for revenue of between £500 million and £510 million in fiscal 2016 and adjusted ebitda of between £165 million and £175 million.
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