Manchester United £716.5m in debt

Manchester United's parent company's overall debt has swelled to £716.5m (€824.8m), latest accounts reveal.

The company Red Football Joint Venture Ltd, which is owned by the Glazer family, filed accounts today for the year ending June 30, 2009 showing their overall debt has gone past the £700m (€805.8m) mark for the first time, increasing by £17m (€19.56m) from £699m (€804.7m).

The biggest rise has come in the payment in kind (PIK) loans, which typically have a higher interest rate, which show a £27m (€31.1m) increase to £202m (€232.5m). Bank loans, meanwhile, have dropped by £9m (€10.3m) to £509m (€586m).

The overall debt figure, not contained in the prospectus for a £500m (€575.6m) bond issue released last week, illustrate why the Glazers are so keen to raise cash through bonds to reduce the interest on the debt.

Red Football Joint Venture paid out £68.5m (€78.85m) in interest on their debts in 2009 but unlike the previous year, returned an overall profit of £6.4m (€7.3m) in 2009. In 2008, they returned a £47m (€54.1m) loss.

The profit can almost entirely be explained by the sale of Cristiano Ronaldo to Real Madrid in the summer for £80m.

Red Football Joint Venture's accounts record an £80.7m (€92.9m) profit on "disposal of players" compared to a £21m (€24.17m) profit in 2008.

A spokesman for the Glazer family insisted that the debt did not have a bearing on the operation of the club.

He said: "The club has a £50m (€57.5m) surplus to work with once the interest payments have been made."

Manchester United's accounts also show their chief executive David Gill was paid £1.8m (€2.07m) last year.