Cubic again. >From the FT
Tanya Bid rumours do the rounds at Man U By David Owen, Sports Correspondent Feb 07, 2003 The bid rumours are doing the rounds again at Premiership football club Manchester United, triggered by the recent run-up in the Old Trafford side's share price. While the share prices of several other clubs are languishing at or near 52-week lows, those of United, which faces a Manchester derby against local rivals Manchester City on Sunday have sped ahead. The question on many lips boils down to whether the members of the Irish horse racing fraternity who already have substantial holdings in the Red Devils, or their associates, have been further building their stakes. JP McManus and John Magnier have a declared 8.6 per cent holding through their vehicle, The Cubic Expression Company. Harry Dobson, another member of the fraternity, last year bought a 6.5 per cent stake through Mountbarrow Investments. Messrs McManus and Magnier have business contacts with Dermot Desmond, the Irish entrepreneur with a stake in Glasgow Celtic, one of the top Scottish clubs. For the moment, the answer given by close observers of the club is a guarded "no": the club's prominent Irish investors are probably not responsible for the share price rise. First, there are disclosure requirements which would ensure that the market would know about any significant additions to their holdings. Second, an unrelated company - Lansdowne Partners Limited Partnership - last month announced it had lifted its stake to 5.33 per cent. Third, the market - which admittedly has been spectacularly unreceptive to the football sector in recent times - may be responding to recent "buy" notes. Dresdner Kleinwort Wasserstein last month upgraded the shares from Hold to Buy, noting that they provided: "good income visibility in an uncertain time for consumer spend". Fourth, the club has enjoyed good - and lucrative - runs in both domestic Cup competitions. It is guaranteed at least one more bumper FA Cup pay day next Saturday when it plays its plum fifth-round tie against Arsenal. It has also reached the final of the Worthington Cup for the first time since 1994. Even so, these are interesting times for the club to put its financial PR up for tender. Six companies, including the present incumbent, are in the running. It is expected to decide by the end of this month. * First Artist Corporation, the leading football agent on an expansion and diversification drive, on Friday warned that pre-tax profits for the year to June 30 were expected to be below market expectations. It said its results in January, a period covering one of football's two annual transfer windows, had been impacted by "the generally unfavourable economic climate in the sector". It is understood that the company, which has restructured its cost base, only marginally missed its January targets and may still hit them for the year overall. "We have performed well in a negative environment, but this is the prudent way to behave," it said. Analysts had been expecting annual pre-tax profits of about �1.5m. *************************************** Reply to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe to the list: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Unsubscribe from the list: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
