Manchester City Football Club Ltd.

The club's first recognised competitive fixture was played in November 1880, when the side was known as St. Mark's (West Gorton), they then became Ardwick Association Football Club in 1887 before changing their name to Manchester City Football Club in 1894.

The holding company of Manchester City F.C., Manchester City Limited, is a private limited company, with approximately 54 million shares in issue. The club has been in private hands since 2007, when the major shareholders agreed to sell their holdings to UK Sports Investments Limited (UKSIL), a company controlled by former Thailand prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra. UKSIL then made a formal offer to buy the shares held by several thousand small shareholders.

Prior to the Thaksin takeover, the club was listed on the specialist independent equity market PLUS (formerly OFEX) where it had been listed since 1995. On 6 July 2007, having acquired 75% of the shares, Thaksin de-listed the club and re-registered it as a private company. By August UKSIL had acquired over 90% of the shares, and exercised its rights under the Companies Act to "squeeze out" the remaining shareholders, and acquire the entire shareholding. On 1 September 2008, Abu Dhabi-based Abu Dhabi United Group Investment and Development Limited completed a takeover of Manchester City, in a deal worth a reported £200 million.

The club left its old stadium (Maine Road - capacity 32,500) in 2002 to move into the new City of Manchester Stadium (originally built to host the Commonwealth Games - capacity 48,000) for which they share gate revenue with Sport England and Manchester city council after deducting costs.

Turnover and pre-tax profit figures are in millions.

On 1 September 2008, Abu Dhabi-based Abu Dhabi United Group Investment and Development Limited completed a takeover of Manchester City. The deal, worth a reported £200 million

Financial Overview