The value of ManU "has dropped by a staggering quarter of a billion pounds in the last four weeks," according to Alex Bell of the MANCHESTER EVENING NEWS.
Despite registering its first win of the year on Saturday, ManU "lost three games on the bounce prior to that" -- for the first time since '92 -- and it "appears to have been having a knock-on effect on its New York Stock Exchange share price."
The club "lies in seventh position." At the close of trading on Friday, its shares were $15.16 each. The highest they have been since floating has been $19.34, on Feb. 8 last year (MANCHESTER EVENING NEWS, 1/13). In London, John Drayton reported ManU could withstand the one-off loss of the £29M ($47.5M) it received from UEFA for last season's campaign in the Champions League, but a prolonged absence "would have serious knock-on effects." Not the least of the problems "would be the threat to deals" such as its retail partnership with sportswear group Nike, which pays ManU a minimum of £25M ($41M) a year for the sale of 2 million replica shirts around the globe. And though Nike "is expected to renew its deal" in the next few months, the team's recent decline "could weaken the club's bargaining position." Coventry University Professor Simon Chadwick said, "You were always going to have this transitional period, when it was not clear if United would carry on winning. But this is the nightmare scenario, as opposed to the seamless transition" (DAILY MAIL, 1/13).
GLAZERS CONFIDENT: The PA's Martyn Ziegler reported the Glazer family "remain comfortable about Manchester United's value despite recent falls in share prices on the New York Stock Exchange." Sources said that the Glazer family who owns United "take a long-term view about the value of the shares," which were launched in Aug.'12 in N.Y. at a price of $14. One United source said, "The Glazer family take very much a long-term view about share prices and the value of the club -- there have been a number of fluctuations in the last 18 months but they remain comfortable about the current position" (PA, 1/13).
