Manchester United owners Ineos have received some bad news off the pitch.
Financial squeeze at Old Trafford
The club’s owners have hit the headlines repeatedly for their cost-cutting measures.
Sir Jim Ratcliffe, the owner of Ineos, claimed that United were on the verge of running out of money at the end of last year.
As a result, the owners have drastically reduced the scouting department and also increased the price of matchday tickets for supporters this season.
What’s more, the club has introduced significant cuts to the staff with a significantly leaner group of employees from two years ago.
Ineos’ financial problems
Ratcliffe and Ineos do not need to only worry about United’ financial issues however, according to The Times.
The report states that, “Sir Jim Ratcliffe’s petrochemicals empire has frozen hiring as it focuses on reducing a debt pile of more than €11 billion.”
The Times add, “the company bought assets worth about €2.7 billion between 2022 and 2024 to expand its global reach, but it now faces financial pressures from US tariffs and a downturn in the chemicals market.”
Ratcliffe has stopped taking dividends from the company in an attempt to “reduce its leverage to a target of 3 times earnings.”
Ineos will continue to hire for essential employees, around 136 roles, and will continue to pump money into a new project in Antwerp.
Industry as a whole suffering
The report adds, “the chemicals industry has been knocked by overcapacity and weak prices that credit analysts expect to persist until at least 2027.”
As a result of the issues, Ineos’ credit rating has been downgraded. The latest financial figures read that “revenues fell to €3.8 billion from €4.4 billion in the three months that ended June 30th. It swung to a loss before tax of €42.9 million from profit of €291.8 million in the same quarter in 2024. Ineos’ net debt at the end of June stood at €11.1 billion.”
United fans will be hoping that Ineos’ problems off the field will not have any bearing on United as the club aim to keep improving their squad in upcoming transfer windows.
Featured image by Justin Setterfield via Getty Images
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Alex Browne
Alex is a huge Manchester United fan, inspired by greats of his homeland such as George Best, Harry Gregg and Norman Whiteside. Proud owner of such niche shirts such as Kleberson, Eric Djemba-Djemba and Gary Neville. Grew up pretending to be Ruud van Nistelrooy and Ole Gunnar Solskjaer in the back garden, with little success.
