On the stock market sits a $3.6bn business that, on paper, is doing almost everything right. Its assets include the following:

• One of the strongest brands in its industry – enough to raise prices annually without losing customers.
• The ability to out-earn rivals who’ve been outspending it for a decade.
• A new leadership team that’s stripping out waste after a long stretch of underperformance.
• A dated catalyst for revenue growth this month.

If this were a mid-cap industrial, investors would be all over it. But it’s something entirely different…

What is it?

The stock is Manchester United (NYSE:MANU), at around $21 a share.

Since manager Sir Alex Ferguson left in 2013, the club has been spectacularly wasteful, especially in the transfer market. Think of it as a decade of value-destructive M&A: Pogba, Bailly, Antony, Højlund. 

Those of us who follow companies like Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway know about the importance of capital allocation. And that’s not gone well at Man Utd in the last 10 years.

In 2024, however, Sir Jim Ratcliffe bought in. From a background in petrochemicals, he set about doing what he does best – cut costs. This involved hundreds of redundancies and a lot of negative publicity. But from a business perspective, it worked. 

Employee costs fell 14.1% to £313.2m to 2025, dragging the wage-to-revenue ratio from 55.1% to 47%. And the turnaround might be starting to take shape.

The metric nobody mentions

United’s league form has fallen a long way from its glory days. But despite this, the business is a revenue and profit machine. My own club, Spurs, just spent £1bn on a new stadium and we were still out-earned by Man Utd in a year where they finished 15th.

Despite that huge underperformance, United’s matchday revenues reached record highs. And Tottenham also hosted seven extra European home games in that year.

That gap isn’t to do with footballing operations. It’s the fact that Man Utd is a brand that’s pretty unique when it comes to sports franchises, never mind football.

Revenue growth is coming

United finished third last season and are back in the Champions League. From there, the revenue growth is almost guaranteed. A third-place finish means TV money, prize money and sponsorship inventory all reprice upwards.

In Q3, broadcasting revenue jumped 57% to £64.9m. As a result, EBITDA (profits before transfer spending) jumped 29% and operating income came in at £37.7m.

Tribal football loyalties aside, there’s a lot to like about the business for an investor. But they do need to pay attention to one big risk.

Is there a catch?

In football, cash generated by clubs often gets reinvested in players. Competing consistently at the top end of the Premier League inevitably means spending big.

United’s success rate in recent years has been appalling. It’s improved under Ratcliffe with a focus on proven league players, but it has to kick on from here.

Success on that front isn’t guaranteed. But Ratcliffe’s running this as a business, with real signs of progress, so I’m not about to let tribal loyalties put me off a closer look.

Should you invest £5,000 in Manchester United Plc right now?

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And right now, Mark thinks there are 6 standout stocks that investors should consider buying. Want to see if Manchester United Plc made the list?

Stephen Wright owns shares in Berkshire Hathaway.