Manchester United plc said revenue for the 2018 fiscal first quarter ended September 30, 2017, rose 17% to £141 million in a period when it signed three new players in Victor Lindelof, Romelu Lukaku and Nemanja Matic.

The company said it made adjusted EBITDA of £36.6 million and operating profit of £15.2 million in the quarter.

Ed Woodward, executive vice chairman, said: “We are just over a quarter of the way through what promises to be another exciting season.

“In the Champions League we have won all four games played to-date, we are through to the quarter final of the Carabao Cup, and are looking forward to the next few months as the number of matches ramps up.”

In its outlook Manchester United said that for fiscal 2018, it continues to expect revenue to be £575 million to £585 million and adjusted EBITDA to be £175 million to £185 million.

Commercial revenue for the quarter was £80.5 million, an increase of £6.2 million, or 8.3%, over the prior year quarter.

Sponsorship revenue for the quarter was £53.2 million, an increase of £6.3 million, or 13.4%, over the prior year quarter, primarily due to playing a greater number of tour matches.

Retail, merchandising, apparel and product licensing revenue for the quarter slid 0.4% to £27.3 million.

Broadcasting revenue for the quarter rose 30.9% to £38.1 million “primarily due to participation in the UEFA Champions League, playing one additional PL home game and participation in the UEFA Super Cup final, partially offset by one fewer PL game broadcast live.”

Match day revenue for the quarter rose 33.3% to £22.4 million, primarily due to playing two additional home games across all competitions.

Total operating expenses for the quarter rose 17.1% to £143.1 million.

Employee benefit expenses for the quarter rose 12.2% to £69.9 million “primarily due to player salary uplifts due to participation in the UEFA Champions League.”

Other operating expenses for the quarter rose 29.2% to £34.5 million “primarily due to playing a greater number of tour matches and playing two additional games across all competitions.”