SUT Sheffield Utd

RNS Number:4912V
Sheffield United PLC
12 December 2005

12 December 2005
                              Sheffield United plc
                        "Sheffield United" or "the Group"

                                 AGM Statement

            Acquisition of Chengdu Five Bull Football Club in China

Sheffield United plc (AIM: SUT), the football, property and leisure services
business, announces that at its AGM this morning, Kevin McCabe, the Group's
chairman will read the following statement:

"Our transformation into a full football, property and leisure services business
continues apace and I am particularly excited to announce this morning that we
are taking the Blades global with the acquisition of the Chengdu Five Bull
Football Club in China. Contracts have been exchanged at a price, which is not
material to the Group and, subject to a number of conditions, we expect to
complete the acquisition in the New Year.

"Bringing Chengdu Five Bull into the Sheffield United fold presents enormous
opportunities for the Group and follows our first team's successful pre-season
tour of the Far East in the summer which began the process of establishing the
Blades brand in the region. Chengdu city has a population of 11 million and is
the capital of the Sichuan province, which has a population of around 100
million. Although I do not expect them all to become fans, this does present us
with a huge potential fan base with which we can develop both the Chengdu Five
Bull and Sheffield United brands.

"As one of the main clubs in its province Chengdu has a 40,000 seat stadium as
well as excellent training facilities. From a business point of view, there are
numerous ways in which we can enhance Chengdu's performance and our initial
focus will be on improving sponsorship and increasing attendance. We intend to
establish a leisure / football shop in the stadium as a well as a Blades bar in
the city itself. In addition, we intend to sell Chengdu Five Bull branded
merchandise the first time, encouraging the growth of the fan base and creating
a new revenue stream. There are numerous other potential initiatives which will
be announced in due course.

"The acquisition further cements our existing strong links with China. As you
know, in the past year we have carried out the development and management of the
Hainan Football Academy, which is already training excellent young players from
the Hainan region. We have an established Chinese language school at our
Sheffield Academy, to enable young Chinese players to come to Sheffield to be
trained by our coaching staff, whilst learning English and furthering their
education. We also have Hao Haidong, an extremely high profile Chinese
international football player, in Sheffield United's first team squad.

"In addition to our international expansion, our property joint venture, United
Scarborough Estates, has performed well. Two properties have been sold, raising
profits of #1.6 million; the Group's share being #800,000, which will be
reflected in the current financial year's profit and loss account. These profits
are subject to taxation within the joint venture. The Group will not receive
cash flow from the sale, as the cash will be retained within the joint venture
to repay down the senior debt facility. The property joint venture continues to
hold approximately #35 million worth of assets and we are pleased with its
performance to date.

"With regard to football operations, the two key factors affecting the
performance of the football club are player wages and ticket sales. The average
crowd for the season to date is 22,434, an increase of 14% on the previous
year's. Strong ticket sales have coincided with the first team's excellent
performance, which has seen it firmly within the league's top two automatic
promotion spots since early in the season.

"As outlined in our report and accounts, a strategic decision was taken to
invest additional sums in player wages, enabling us to acquire players with
Premier League experience including David Unsworth, Craig Short and Neil
Shipperley. In addition, the squad has been strengthened with the acquisition on
a permanent basis of Danny Webber, together with Paul Ifill. We have also
retained the services of key players including Phil Jagielka, who was the target
for a premier league club in the summer transfer window.

"As a result of the increase in player wages an operating loss for the season is
projected despite the contribution from the profits of the joint venture.

"At our Stadium, work has commenced on an infilling corner stand between the
South stand and away stand. This development will increase capacity of the
ground to around 33,000 seats and will be funded in due course through an issue
of fresh equity.

"We continue to strengthen the Group's position as a football property and
leisure services business and the acquisition of Chengdu means we are now the
only western football club which owns a football club in China. Sheffield United
is performing well both on and off the pitch and I look forward with confidence.

"Up the Blades!"

For further information:

Sheffield United plc:                         0870 787 1960
Jason Rockett, chief executive officer
Mark Fenoughty, chief operating officer

Tavistock Communications:                     020 7920 3150

Jeremy Carey
Richard Sunderland
Rachel Drysdale

Notes to Editors:

About Chengdu Five Bull Football Club ("Chengdu Five Bull" or "the Club")

Chengdu Five Bull was established in 1996 and currently stands mid table in the 
Second Division. The Club enjoys strong local support, with this season's 
opening match drawing 18,000 supporters and the Club's attendance record is 
30,000. Currently the Club has no official supporters club and sells no 
merchandise.

The Club has 30 registered players and six coaching staff, including Li Bing, a
former national team player seen as one of China's best ever forwards, winning
player of the year award several times.

Chengdu Five Bull focus' strongly on youth development, with 100 registered 
youth players and competitive youth teams - U13, U15 and U17. This is seen as a 
way of growing talent for the club and introducing an alternative revenue 
stream.

Sheffield United aims to bring its experience and skills to exploit the latent
marketing and commercial opportunities at Chengdu Five Bull, including 
merchandising, the creation of an official fan club, youth team/academy 
development, advertising and sponsorship opportunities.

Chinese Football

Interest in football in China has grown exponentially in recent years,
especially since their participation in the 2002 World Cup. With the 2008
Olympics being held in Beijing, unprecedented attention and money has gone into
building China's sporting infrastructure. Along with investment in sport, the
Government has acted to modernise sporting regulation.



                      This information is provided by RNS
            The company news service from the London Stock Exchange

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