Man Utd goes £137m into the red
By Roger Blitz
FT: April 14 2007

The Glazer family's takeover of Manchester United resulted in a pre-tax loss
of £137.7m in the club's holding company, figures filed at Companies House
reveal.

The accounts for Red Football, set up by Malcolm Glazer for the deal, also
show for the first time that the actual amount paid by the Glazers was
£809.1m.

The figures were disclosed as the club extended the contract of Cristiano
Ronaldo, one of its prized assets, by five years, in one of the biggest
deals in British football.

According to the accounts, after a net asset valuation of £286.8m, the
goodwill generated from the deal comes to £522.4m, depreciating by £39.2m a
year over 15 years.

Interest payments on debt of £598m totalled about £85.2m in the 14 months
between May 1 2005 and June 30 2006, divided between £27.2m from cash flow
and £57.9m in high-yielding payment-in-kind notes.

The accounts are the first declaration by the Glazer family, owner of the
Tampa Bay Buccaneers NFL team, of the scale of the club's indebtedness
needed to secure the takeover.

The family waged a protracted battle with the board before securing the
takeover. However, the club's success on the pitch - it leads the Premier
League and is in the semi-finals of the Champions League and the FA Cup -
has eased pressure.

The Glazers refinanced the debt last August, raising the total debt to £660m
but reducing the debt servicing to about £60m.

A spokesman for the Glazer family said the accounting losses had "absolutely
no bearing on the strong underlying financial performance of Manchester
United, which is presently enjoying record revenues.

"The Glazer family is committed to continuing to invest in the club's future
. . . "

Manchester United reported in January that the club had made a £31m profit
in the 12 months to June 30, with earnings at £46.3m. Red Football's
earnings were £10m lower, the result of costs borne in the last two months
of the accounting period.

People connected to the Glazer family said the accounting losses were
expected and reflected the cost of financing the old capital structure of
the club, the depreciation of goodwill and exceptional one-off takeover
costs.


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