Juventus kicked out but shares bounce back
Juventus football club may be about to sink a division for attempting to rig matches but its share price has jumped.
Yesterday, the club's shares were trading at €1.87 in Milan and have risen by 23pc this month, making them Italy's top-performing stock.
Some of the rise was simply recouping lost ground after plummeting when Italy's football scandal broke. However, Juventus is now trading at well above its long-term average of around €1.40 and above all predictions before it was accused of match-fixing.
Banca IMI had a target price of €1.60 on the shares before April but yesterday said the current conditions were too volatile to make a judgment about future earnings. Juventus' financial position has been bolstered by the sale of almost all of its star players. Yesterday Zlatan Ibrahimovic, the Swedish striker, was sold to Inter Milan for €24.8m (£16.7m). In recent weeks, the club has collected €51.5m from the sale of players.
With its star players gone, the club's wage bill will be much lower in the next two years. Its revenues from ticket sales and TV rights are also likely to be lower in Italy's second division. The club's current deal with Sky, worth €94m for next year, is being renegotiated. If it does not immediately bounce back from Serie B next year, a €108m contract with Mediaset for 2007-08 may be cancelled.
"The share price is unbelievable," said one source close to the club. "It is very difficult to make any judgments on the club's possible profits at the moment, so you could only put it down to speculation."
Investors may be pinning their hopes on a reprieve for the club at another court hearing on August 18. They may also be hoping that the Agnelli family, owners of Fiat and controllers of Juventus, will choose to delist the club and take it private.
telegraph.co.uk