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Tinashe Mukogo Profile picture
@tmukogo
Sep 4, 2023 • 16 tweets • 6 min read • Read on X
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1/16 I looked at Manchester United's financial statements to try understand why fans hate the Glazers so much.

Now I understand. The #Glazers have suffocated Man Utd by underinvestment and it is likely to continue.

Full analysis🧵 + V11s 👇🏾

#ManchesterUnited #ManUtd #Arsenal Image
2/16 Man Utd has historically been the biggest club in the world & still has a phenomenal brand but recently growth has slowed. Compared to 2018, 2022 revenue was down 1%.

One could say the revenue was impacted by COVID but Man City's revenue increased 22% over the same period. Image
3/16 The biggest issue, however, is the level of debt which stands at £725m. Before the #Glazers, #ManUtd had £0m debt.

To add to that Man Utd has also spent +£700m on interest payments and +£150m in dividends.

That's more than the current valuation of Man City's starting 11. Image
4/16 The Glazer's purchased Man Utd in 2005 via a £790m Leveraged Buy Out (LBO). I like the hyper simplified definition of LBO shown below.

It makes one thing clear - the goal is to manage the business to pay back debt, extract value & make money...nothing about trophies. Image
5/16 The concerns about the way the Glazers have financially extracted returns from Man Utd have been so widespread that even when Chelsea was sold there were "anti-Glazer clauses" related to debt and dividends. Image
6/16 The Glazers' argument on dividends is that compared to other companies their policy is fine as stated by the Man Utd CEO.

This perhaps is the heart of the issue.

Man Utd is now run as a COMPANY to generate returns and not as FOOTBALL CLUB to win trophies. Image
7/16 Man Utd has still been able to spend the 4th most 💰 in the last 6 years.

But considering that before the Glazers took over, Man Utd was debt-free & the richest club in the world, they should be in a position to outspend everyone (besides the insanity of Chelsea). Image
8/16 This transfer window Man Utd wasn't as ambitious as its peers, who chased £100m players.

Maybe it was financial prudence but perhaps the Glazers' potential sale played a part.

After all who buys new tires for a car they plan to sell next week. Image
9/16 It seems some signings this season have been optimized for cost and not potential e.g. signing 35 yr old Johnny Evans from recently relegated Leicester.

On the other had Man City already had a stacked defense but still had £78m to spend on highly rated Gvardiol. Image
10/16 Unfortunately for fans, the Glazers look like they are not going away soon.

Despite a protracted bidding process that saw a record £5bn bid for the club, it now looks like the Glazer's may not sell preferring to hold out for a much bigger pay day. Image
11/16 Perhaps there too many mouths to feed 😅 . When I talked about the Glazers in the past I didn't realize how many there were. There a are 6 Glazers on the board 🤯.

For comparison, Brighton & Arsenal have 2 family members on the board although Arsenal's board is smaller. Image
12/16 I empathize with ManU fans.

Fans want owners that want to win trophies more than make money.

However, is that a realistic expectation?

And if an owner is not making profit but uses the club for e.g sports washing is that an issue?

🤷🏽‍♂️ "I prefer not to speak" Image
13/16 With the Glazers maintaining control it not certain the investment in Man Utd will increase soon.

I wouldn't write off Man Utd yet - it is still an amazing club and may just have to survive this era of Glazers as owners and Maguire and Evans in defense. Image
14/16 What do you think? Are the Glazers to blame or its just business?

If you found this thread insightful, please Comment/Like/Retweet the 1st tweet below and follow @tmukogo for more.

I write on the finance & strategy impacting Africa and the rest of the World.
15/16 If you found this thread interesting you you will probably find the below threads also about football and finance worthwhile reading.

Recommendation 1/2
16/16 Below is another thread you may find interesting.

Recommendation 2/2

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More from @tmukogo

Tinashe Mukogo Profile picture
Jun 17
1/23 Edgars just released some really interesting financial results, and so I will be publishing something soon.

In the meantime, here is a recap from the archives to get you up to speed!

🔄🔄

Truworths And Edgars Were Never Clothing Retailers

They were more like banks with a side business of selling clothes.

Understanding how to identify this can help you save your business from sudden failure and find your biggest opportunities!

🧵 THREAD 🧵

(from the archives).Image
2/23 People often define companies by the products they sell. For example, if I sell paint, I'm seen as a paint manufacturer.

The issue is that the visible product or service may not truly drive the business's economics.
3/23 For example, Meta (Facebook) is described as a social media company, but in reality, it is an advertising business that owns a social network.

If Facebook was popular but couldn’t run ads it would be in trouble since 97.5% of its revenue is from advertising. Image
Read 23 tweets
Tinashe Mukogo Profile picture
Jun 9
1/16 In 2023, OK spent millions to acquire Food Lover’s franchises in Avondale, Borrowdale, and Bulawayo.

Last week, the stores in Avondale and Borrowdale announced they are closing down.

Why is this happening? What went wrong, and what happens next?

Let’s unpack. Image
2/16 How Did We Get Here?

Back in 2023, OK Zimbabwe (OKZ) acquired Talwant Trading, which operated three Food Lovers Stores.

The idea behind the deal was to help OKZ get more into the “premium retailing of gourmet food as well as fruit and vegetables categories.” Image
3/16 The stores included in this deal were Food Lover’s stores in Harare's suburbs of Borrowdale and Avondale and one in Bulawayo.

Worth noting this deal excluded Food Lover’s Greendale, which is still independently owned.

Determining how much OKZ paid for Food Lover’s is not easy from public information as the financial statements hightlights a cash outflow of ZWL 3.7 billion for the purchase.Image
Read 16 tweets
Tinashe Mukogo Profile picture
Jun 8
1/7 Comrades' Marathon Great Race, Better Business

The Comrades Marathon is an iconic race but could it be an even better business?

I looked through the race's latest financial statements, and this is what I found.

The race has been growing in revenue. Between 2023 and 2024, revenue increased by 22% from R53.9 million to R65.6 million.

This is impressive.

The big jump was driven by an increase in sponsorship, with Cell-C coming on board with a four-year sponsorship deal.

This indicates the brand of the Comrade's Marathon is growing well.

Further evidence is that for the latest edition, entrants were up 10% from
20,574 in 2024 to 22,670 in 2025.Image
2/7 What is even more impressive is that the event is comfortably profitable.

Worth noting, the race is not actually a "business" in the strictest sense, but an not for profit association.

So the "profit" is the difference between income and expenses, which called a surplus in the financials

In 2023, the surplus was R11 million dropping to R7 million in 2024.

The drop off in 2024 was reportedly due to once of the expense related to a settlement with the previous race manager.

As a result, there is reason to believe the 2025 edition should be more profitable and have a bigger surplus.Image
3/7 What you also see is that there is a healthy reserve of R42.8 million.

This is essentially the surplus (profit) of previous year's races.

This highlights two things.

1. Comrades has been profitable for some time
2. The race is a healthy position with some buffer to handle any emergencies (it had an operating contingent of R41 million in 2024).

This should not be taken for granted.Image
Read 7 tweets
Tinashe Mukogo Profile picture
May 29
1/14 Over half of Zimbabwean property owners have more than 80% of their net worth tied to property, compared to about 39% in the United States.

This is a problem that can also have a damaging impact for businesses and in the long run for property owners.

Here is what every property owner, investor and entrepreneur needs to know.

🧵 THREAD🧵Image
2/14 More Money, More Property

The chart below is from an online poll that asked property owners what portion of their net worth was tied up in property.

Of the respondents, 56% responded that more than 80% of their net worth was held in property. Image
3/14 This is not surprising.

Based on the research conducted in the last few articles, (see below for example) we identified that individual and institutional investors have disproportionately invested in property.

This is understandable, but may also present a big problem from an economic and business growth perspective.

For businesses to thrive, “risk capital” is needed.

Risk capital is money invested in new ventures, growing companies, or any entity that has a higher risk profile than the norm but also offers the opportunity for much greater returns.

Money invested in property is what I would call “idle capital”.

Property is not easy to divide or sell quickly, so that capital doesn’t “move” much; it essentially stays idle.

It also tends to be less risky, especially in markets like Zimbabwe.

If most of your net worth is tied up in property, you are less likely to invest much in other ventures.
Read 14 tweets
Tinashe Mukogo Profile picture
May 22
1/17 Major retailers in Zimbabwe are struggling.

OK is in distress. Choppies is out. Others are scaling back.

But one store—Food Lover’s Greendale—is not just surviving. It’s booming.

I partnered with @InjectaAnalytic to uncover the hidden data behind this growth.

THREAD🧵 Image
2/17 One of the most important elements in retail is location, as it drives foot traffic.

The data below shows the number of upper to high-income homes within 2 km of the Honeydew Shopping Centre, where Food Lovers Greendale is based.

The data shows approximately 2,089 upper-middle to high-income homes near Food Lovers.

This indicates a strong base of customers with strong spending power, which is good.

But how does that compare to others?Image
3/17 Below is a comparison of Food Lovers Greendale, which is privately owned, and the other two Food Lovers' Outlets in Harare, which OK Zimbabwe owns.

The data shows that the Avondale branch has marginally more residential properties nearby than Greendale, which may indicate a more favourable location.

The low number of homes nearby in Sam Levy is likely due to the larger property sizes in Borrowdale, which may also indicate slightly higher spending power.

From this, it is not clear that Greendale has a significant advantage, although one trend that may also benefit the location is "densification."Image
Read 17 tweets
Tinashe Mukogo Profile picture
Apr 25
/1 Demergers and Butcheries

Demergers have become quite popular, with companies like Innscor, Econet, and Meikles pulling them off in recent years.

The goal of a demerger is often to unlock value, which, interestingly, is similar to what butcheries do.

Let's unpack!🧵 Image
/2 Demergers are essentially when a company splits off one of its businesses to operate independently and often to list separately.

These transactions "unlock value" because the parts of the business, when separate, are often more valuable than the whole.

A bit like a cow. Image
/3 Imagine the stock market as a place to buy meat, and you own a butchery where you are trying to sell a whole cow.

Now, most people don't want the whole cow because they don't know what to do with it.
Read 10 tweets

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