18th Jul 2019 11:23
(Alliance News) - Fox Marble Holdings PLC has halted operations at a Kosovo mine, it said Thursday, in a dispute over a recent acquisition.
Fox Marble shares dropped 18% on Thursday in London in response, traded at 5.65 pence each for a GBP13.1 million market capitalisation.
Fox Marble bought Green Power Shpk and Scope Shpk for GBP1.3 million combined in May. Green Power owns the licence for the Malesheve quarry in Kosovo.
However, since then, Green Power and Scope have challenged the acquisition agreement. Fox Marble believes their claims to be "wholly unfounded". However, it has still halted Malesheve work until the issue is sorted.
Chief Executive Chris Gilbert said: "We are working hard to resolve this temporary difficulty in this one quarry and believe our rights will be asserted successfully as has been the case in the past.
"In the meantime I anticipate orders for our processed material from our factory will increase and we will update the market with growing sales of this higher margin part of our business."
Fox Marble will concentrate on the Cervenilla and Syrigane quarries in Kosovo in the meantime, which hold a number of "desirable" stones, while its Macedonian quarry continues to experience strong demand.
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