Manchester United's stock as an investment

Stocks
, ,
1

I wrote the first message in the thread in English (as a tribute to the club’s roots in England) but we can continue the conversation in each of our native languages! I believe you’ll be able to translate this and any upcoming messages into your preferred language directly here on the Inderes forum later in 2025, as Inderes’ AI project related to this has been launched in May 2025. :slight_smile:

Why Manchester United deserves its own thread on the Inderes forum?

:soccer: I believe there are many followers of the English Premier League in the Inderes investor community.

United has built a global fan base — with strong support also in the Nordic countries. In the 1990s and 2000s, United dominated the Premier League under Sir Alex Ferguson. The club’s golden era coincided with the growing international popularity of the league. Legendary Nordic players who represented the club — such as Peter Schmeichel (Denmark), Jesper Blomqvist (Sweden), and Ole Gunnar Solskjær (Norway) — helped create a strong emotional bond between the club and fans across the Nordics.

Manchester United Supporters Club Scandinavia (MUSS) is Manchester United’s largest supporters’ club. United will next play in the Nordics on July 19, 2025, when they face Leeds United in a friendly match in Stockholm.

:tornado: Manchester United’s finances in turmoil – followers and retail investors need more transparency

  1. Manchester United’s men’s first team will not participate in UEFA competitions during the 2025/26 season — for the first time since 2014/15. This results in significant revenue losses: UEFA prize money, matchday income, and international visibility will all be absent. As a result, financial pressure is mounting.

  2. Change in ownership structure.
    Sir Jim Ratcliffe’s INEOS now holds a substantial minority stake (28.94%). This brings a new layer of strategic thinking and potentially more efficient cost management — but also raises expectations for quick and effectice outcomes.

  3. While the men’s first team prepares for a season without UEFA competitions, the club’s major owners are planning to replace Old Trafford with a new stadium. The cost of Manchester United’s new stadium is estimated at around £2 billion. It is expected to hold up to 100,000 spectators, which would make it the largest football stadium in England.

Is this financially sustainable and value-creating for the stock?

:man_shrugging: Lack of stock analysis for retail investors

Manchester United has 1.1 billion followers worldwide and thousands of retail shareholders — yet there is virtually no stock analysis tailored specifically to them. While the stock is listed on the New York Stock Exchange and currently covered by four analysts, these analyses are not easily accessible to retail investors.

This could change in the future if we begin submitting requests to MU’s Investor Relations to commission analyst coverage from Inderes. If you’re interested, please contact ir@manutd.co.uk.

:pencil2: Are Sir Jim Ratcliffe’s and INEOS’ actions simply rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic? Can United return to the top of world football?

Can a match or transfer be discussed? I think so, as long as it’s significant and offers an investor perspective.

35 Likes
2

Nice initial.

Abt 10 years back I happened to be a small-steak sports betser. Which gave a great boost to watch (any sports) game as I had ‘invested’ at least something, like 10 euros. I had a ‘position’, and ‘seriously’ like my party to win.

Ok this thread is about ManU. But are there some other teams/sports you can invest in - straight to the team? I’m not after domestic sports. But something international for which you can buy the stream to watch for.

Not Liverpool as one scumbag I know is backing it.

3

Dortmund is listed in Germany and Juventus seems to be listed as well

1 Like
4

As are Sporting (Portugal), Benfica (Portugal) and Ajax (Netherlands) as well.

1 Like
5

As a big fan of football and working at Inderes I would love it if we covered Manchester United. :smiley:

I have not really thought about how the stock is going on, more focusing (and enjoying) how bad United have performed lately. Isn’t it quite surprisingly that the stock has performed ok over last 5 years? With all the talks about how they have tried to reduct the costs with less food options for the players and not paying for traveling costs for some of the staff.

Well, maybe the fan base is big enough and its not like its the most traded stock in the world :wink:

Would like to add that AIK Fotboll (team in Sweden) is listed as well.

Do we have anyone hear owning any sport connected stock like these?

9 Likes
6

I have made investments in many football clubs.

I bought some shares of Tampere United, when club was on it’s prime form and (ofc) not making enough money to pay the bills. This cost me probably 200-300 euros or something. I spent more on match tickets, beer etc per year during those years. It was really fun and I made a lot of good memories & met interesting people. The supporters’ group managed to build the club again starting from lower levels and I am still paying yearly membership fee to support the cause.

I have also spend thousands of euros to support my local football clubs JS Hercules and Tervarit Juniorit, where in latter I have also worked for many years. Good hobbies for kids, sometimes someone makes a career and it is nice to see people having passion towards something, here it has been football, but it could have been anything else.

I have also bought football club stocks from stock market. I wanted to be owner of Bayer Leverkusen. Mostly because their performance on the field and Lukas Hradécky being part of that marvellous story, but also to tell my friends I have won Bundesliga as a club owner.

So I spend around 1 000 euros to buy Bayer stocks and used hours and hours to analyse the company. I decided not to buy more, because even medical side is doing quite okay business, they have managed to mess everything up by buying Monsanto years back. And in their yearly report you can find probably one or two sentences, where the football club is mentioned. “The company also owns a football club called Bayer Leverkusen.” or something like that.

During covid-19 I spent also hours analysing different football clubs and I was very close to buy FC Kobenhavn stocks. The club is owned by NASDAQ Copenhagen company: Parken Sport & Entertainment. I missed the opportunity and didn’t buy the stock even after serious analysing. It has come up from 70 DKK to 155 DKK and is paying really good dividend to owners…

They also own Lalandia holiday center, Fitness DK gym chain, Telia Park stadium and ofc the football club, which knows how to develop players and sell them to oil sheikhs.

In Inderes Raharadio @Mikael_Maijala and @Sauli_Vilen missed this club, but maybe next time you have wider analysis on this Danish diamond or the German Cancer-Machine (Bayer Leverkusen) I mentioned before.

11 Likes
7

For basketball & hockey there is also :basketball::ice_hockey:https://www.msgsports.com/

1 Like
8

Hi @Sauli_Vilen , in the Raharadio podcast (June 13), you mentioned that you don’t consider European football clubs to be good investments, partly because there’s no salary cap in Europe like there is in the NHL. Did you have a specific investment time frame in mind? I’ve been wondering whether financial regulations in European football are, perhaps slowly, becoming stricter. For example, UEFA revised its rules in 2022 and replaced the former FFP framework with the new Financial Sustainability Regulations. Additionally, national leagues may have their own financial rules—like the Premier League’s Profitability and Sustainability (PSR) rules, which, at least for the 2025/26 season, remain in place in their current form.

Edit. Just in case you ever run out of topics for Inderespod… it would be awesome if you could have a discussion about football clubs’ finances and financial regulations, especially at the UEFA level. Suggested guests: Mikko Aitkoski, Aki Riihilahti, or Ari Lahti. Even better if there were some Manchester United–themed questions in the episode too. Ping @Mikael_Maijala

1 Like
9

I happened to come across this by chance, so I thought I’d share it here. It seemed fitting for the overall theme of the thread, or at least somewhat related. :slight_smile:

https://x.com/StockMKTNewz/status/1939390218190086489

image

image
image1600×1134 140 KB

1 Like
10

I almost forgot this episode. @Heikki_Keskivali and Sijoituskästi talked about Manchester United and some Italian club about a year ago. In my opinion, it’s an excellent episode about investing in football clubs.

3 Likes
12

Manchester United’s commercial success was quite strong, especially with new sponsorship deals and e-commerce. United’s revenues were record-breaking, and profitability had also improved.

The new management had initiated a cost-saving program, which will support future earnings. Investments in infrastructure have also been made, such as the renovation of the training center.

How has football fared then… In the Premier League, the team finished in 15th place and will not qualify for, for example, the Europa League, etc. These will cause a significant drop in broadcasting rights revenue and will weigh on future earnings. Without success on the football field, financial growth remains uncertain.

https://x.com/Earnings_Time/status/1968271740318187628

image
image521×203 14.2 KB

image
image1920×2509 262 KB

United’s IR pages

image
image741×466 69.5 KB

9 Likes
13

The figures are surprisingly positive (“Key Financials”). Only broadcasting rights revenues were clearly worse in the already reported period in a 12-month comparison: 221 million => 172.9 million. The reason for this development is likely that Manu (Manchester United) was not in the Champions League but in the lower-tier Europa League, where they lost the final to Tottenham. This season, Manu is not participating in any international competition, so the drop in this regard will certainly continue. Sporting-wise, the current season has not started well. Over the weekend, there was a 3-0 loss in the local derby against City.

6 Likes
15

Manu switched to savings mode instead of growth, and it showed.

Revenue suffered from missing out on European games, but by drastically cutting salaries and other cost structures, operations clearly turned profitable. The financial statements are reportedly complicated mainly by exchange rates, but not really by the club’s everyday realities.

The positive aspects were the lightened cost base and the still well-functioning fan merchandise and online store business, which create strong leverage if a return to European fields succeeds.

Not so great were the dwindling sponsorship money, a thinner cash reserve, a large debt burden, and recent investments in the training center. Investors are wondering if this room for maneuver is enough when the team needs to be strengthened again or something like that.

https://x.com/Earnings_Time/status/1999091992249475550
image
image

Company’s own materials

image
image

3 Likes
16

Manchester United announced today that Ruben Amorim, who served as head coach for 14 months, is leaving the club. I couldn’t find a press release regarding this on Man United’s IR pages. :face_with_raised_eyebrow: Amorim was United’s tenth head coach since Sir Alex Ferguson’s retirement 13 years ago.

Amorim’s sacking is dividing fans’ opinions: some would have given the man 1–2 more transfer windows, while others do not believe his abilities are sufficient for the role. There are estimates that sacking Amorim will cost United 25–30 million pounds. I would appreciate it if you share any better estimates.

6 Likes
17

I can only speak from a football perspective without needing to do research into the finances themselves, but at this stage, there was unfortunately nothing else to do but fire Amorim. There were simply no visions for the future where they saw him turning the ship around and starting to perform. He admittedly got 14 months, which might sound short, but in a football context, it can be considered a long time. In that time, you can instill hope, faith in the future, and start building strategically for the future, but it hasn’t worked at all for United with Amorim. Now they’re bringing in Michael Carrick as a solution only until the summer.

What hope does that instill for the future?

4 Likes
18

Amorim’s statistics as United manager are quite dismal over the 14-month period, but I think he effectively only had one transfer window (summer 2025) to rebuild the team.

About one year seems to have been the limit of INEOS Group’s patience regarding managers in another club they own, OGC Nice, which plays in the French Ligue 1. INEOS Group has announced that its ownership in OGC Nice is for sale. They have owned it since 2019.

On a lighter note:

Manchester United legends are coming to Sotkamo and Vuokatti in March 2027. According to Alma Media’s sources, the United legends will face the Inderes-sponsored Sotkamon Jymy in snow football. @Juha_Kinnunen, can you confirm this, are you going to play? There won’t be a better opportunity to announce the start of the analysis coverage than this?

6 Likes
19

Hi there,

Good catch! Just to be sure, I had to call Jere yesterday to ask if I should start putting a team together. The “encounter” with Sotkamon Jymy in the headline seems to be metaphorical, though, and refers to the stadium. Well, there’s still time for the situation to change, we’ll be ready for anything :sweat_smile: I haven’t prepared for the start of coverage at all, so it would certainly come as a surprise to all parties.

4 Likes
20

Q2 results were released on February 25th. Link to the press release: Press – Manchester United

“Key Points

• Generated operating profit in first 6 months of fiscal 2026 of £32.6 million, compared to £3.9 million operating loss in first 6 months of fiscal 2025, as the Club continues to see the positive impact of operating cost and headcount reduction programs implemented in the prior year;
• 6 month adjusted EBITDA at £102.9 million, versus £94.2 million in 6 months to 31 December 2024 representing a 9.2% increase, despite total revenue decrease with men’s first team not participating in UEFA competition in fiscal 2026;
• Achieved total revenues of £190.3 million and adjusted EBITDA of £76.0 million, compared to £198.7 million and £70.5 million respectively in the second quarter of fiscal 2025;
• Operating profit for the quarter was £19.6 million, compared to £3.1 million in the second quarter of fiscal 2025;
• Supported the launch of the Old Trafford Regeneration Mayoral Development Corporation (OTR MDC), a major milestone in the journey towards a new world-class home for the Club..”

“Management Commentary

Omar Berrada, Chief Executive Officer, commented, “We are now seeing the positive financial impact of our off-pitch transformation materialise both in our costs and profitability. We continue to take a football first approach and invest in both our men’s and women’s first teams. On the pitch our men’s team sits 4th in the Premier League and our women’s team are 2nd in the Women’s Super League, as well as reaching the League Cup Final and the quarter final of the UEFA Women’s Champions League…”

2 Likes
21

Things look good for the Premier League in terms of the fifth-place “extra spot” for the Champions League.

Screenshot_20260303_211259_Chrome~2
Screenshot_20260303_211259_Chrome~21076×836 74.9 KB

In sixth place in the Premier League is Chelsea, who, despite an upcoming head-to-head match, have a tougher fixture list in their remaining games, plus Champions League knockouts on top of that—where they face none other than the defending champions PSG next.

As a fan who grew up during the Ferguson era, it’s a real joy to see the journey progressing toward the Champions League, where Man Utd—given its resources, size, and despite everything, its squad—has long belonged, regardless of all kinds of blunders on the pitch and behind the scenes.

It’s hard to see Carrick as a long-term manager, but right now he is the right man for the club and will hopefully bring stability to the eternal turbulence. And why not longer, of course, if the results follow.

At the time of writing, they are third in the league, and it’s clear that besides history, Man Utd’s financial structure dictates that they must be involved in competing for the biggest and most beautiful prize. Ideally as deep into the spring as possible. Even if that might not be the case as soon as next season. But for player recruitment alone, the Champions League needs to be on the menu if you want to attract the best. Fergie’s Fledglings is no longer possible (at least not from an investment perspective :smiley:).

Glory, glory, Man United!

5 Likes
22

A good article published yesterday, March 11, in The New York Times about United’s debt and the stadium project - no paywall at the time of writing this post.

“Barcelona, Real Madrid, Everton and Tottenham Hotspur have all built up huge debt while building or renovating state-of-the-art home grounds.

..A key difference between United and those other stadium builders is where each started from. None of those were already carrying large external debts on their balance sheets (Everton owed significant sums to owner Farhad Moshiri, but they were interest-free). For United, that couldn’t be further from the truth: outside those clubs mentioned, they are already the most indebted club in world football.”

In the summer of 2026, United’s pre-season tour possibly in Europe: Gothenburg, Warsaw, Oslo, Dublin, and Helsinki :ogre:

1 Like