Updated: May 9, 2008, 10:29 AM EST Comment

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Accounts released this week by Red Football Joint Venture Ltd., the company set up when American businessman Malcolm Glazer purchased the club three years ago, showed that Manchester United posted a 58.2 million pound (US$113.4 million; €73.9 million) net loss in the fiscal year ending June 30, 2007.

The net result was an improvement on the 135.3-million-pound loss the company posted in the previous year as revenue rose 21 percent to 210.1 million pounds (US$409 million; €266.5 million).

However, the figures also revealed that the club had borrowings of 666.7 million pounds (US$1.3 billion; €850 million) in the year to June 30, up from 603.9 million pounds in the previous year.

That took the total owed to all creditors to 764 million pounds (US$1.5 billion; €980 million), including 56 million pounds (US$109 million; €71 million) in transfer fee installments on players signed by Alex Ferguson.

Recent high-profile signings for the club include Owen Hargreaves from Bayern Munich, Carlos Tevez from West Ham and Nani from Sporting Lisbon.

The detailed figures - coming as Manchester United seeks to secure its 10th Premier League title on Sunday and faces Chelsea in the Champions League final in Moscow on May 21 - contrast sharply with the club's announcement of the headline figures in January, highlighting the 21 percent rise in turnover and an operating profit of 75 million pounds (US$146 million; €95.1 million).

Just last month, Forbes magazine named Manchester United as the most valuable team in world soccer for a second straight season, valuing the club at US$1.8 billion, an increase of 24 percent on the previous year.

The latest figures from Red Football - covering the period that included the refinancing of the company in 2006 which followed the leveraged takeover by Glazer the year before - suggest that the club is being affected by the global credit crunch.

Glazer, whose sons are board members and occasionally attend games at Old Trafford, borrowed most of the money needed to buy the club, loading it up with debt.

The Red Football figures showed that the club still owes some 152 million pounds (US$296 million; €192.9 million) to hedge funds at a rate of interest of 14.25 percent and that it paid off only 42 million pounds (US$81.8 million; €53.3 million) of the 81 million pounds (US$157.8 million; €102.8 million) in interest due on their debts last year.

The holding company was upbeat about Manchester United's prospects for 2007-08, saying a record 64,500 season tickets had been sold before the start of the season and that the club will benefit from an increased share of TV revenues from UEFA.

The current season also represents the first year of the Premier League's new three-year television deal which will result in domestic media revenues increasing by more than 50 percent, it added.