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No better value business than United

They may have failed to win the FA Cup in what has been criticised as a disappointing final given the cost of both teams, but UK fund manager Nick Train, rated as one of the top-performing equity fund managers, has bought into Manchester United for his Finsbury Growth & Income Fund. He intends to increase Finsbury's holding in United from 1.6 per cent to 2.5 per cent of his portfolio as soon as he can access more stock. He bought shares from the Glazer family last year.

Mr Train said that he was confident that the stock would treble. Investors would benefit from the club's position as a global brand and from the growth in the sports entertainment market. He said he could not think of 'a better value business' to 'protect our shareholders from technological change but also to give the access to some of the benefits of that change.'

'There is going to be the mother of all battles between today's global internet giants to ensure that eyeballs are attached to their device, their streaming services, their app and not their rivals. This battle is going to make the battle that Sky fought with ITV or the BBC back in the 1990s look like a playground tiff.'

'There are trillions of dollars of market cap hanging on which streaming service will triumph. There is no doubt the value of streaming rights for Manchester United games are going up.'

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