Speculation mounts over United

Takeover speculation gathered momentum at Manchester United yesterday when two of the club's biggest shareholders revealed they had raised their stakes.

Mr John de Mol, who created the Big Brother reality series on television, increased his holding through his investment vehicle Talpa Capital to 4.1 per cent from 3.5 per cent, but a spokesman said the Dutchman had no plans to make a bid for the football club.

"Our interest is financial and is not strategic. We don't look at Manchester United as a football club. We look at it as a brand," said Mr Frank Botman, director of Talpa Capital.

Later, Mr Malcolm Glazer, owner of the American Super Bowl champions Tampa Bay Buccaneers, confirmed reports that he had upped his stake to 8.94 per cent from 5.9 per cent.

The move makes him the second-biggest shareholder in the Premier League team.

Mr Glazer, who has been consistently silent on his reasons for involvement with Manchester United, is viewed by many as the most likely party to make a full bid for the club.

The latest share purchases came almost immediately after Mr JP McManus and Mr John Magnier raised their holding to 23.15 per cent by buying BSkyB's 10 per cent stake for £62 million sterling (€87.3 million) on Tuesday.

The two businessmen have not commented on their holding but it is thought a takeover of Manchester United is not on their current agenda. They would be obliged to make a bid if their holding rose to 30 per cent.

After Mr Glazer, the next largest shareholder is Scottish mining millionaire Mr Harry Dobson, who holds about 6.5 percent

The club's shares ended down 5.2 per cent at £2.35 yesterday after going ex-dividend. Some 1.6 million shares were traded.

Loyal fans and strong television revenues helped English soccer club Newcastle United return to profit, as it announced yesterday it was looking beyond Europe to boost its fortunes. The club - which reported a profit after tax of £4.29 million for the year to July 31st against a £3.07 million loss last year - said it planned to build the Newcastle United brand in Far Eastern countries where it participated in the FA Premier League Asia Cup this summer.