25th Feb 2019 10:18
LONDON (Alliance News) - Home furnishing and fashion retailer Laura Ashley Holdings PLC on Monday denied a newspaper report of a possible takeover offer and said that no approach whatsoever had been received by the company.
Shares in Laura Ashley were trading 23% higher at 3.99 pence each in morning trade.
The Sunday Telegraph reported that Laura Ashley is the subject of a takeover offer from Manchester-born entrepreneur Michael Flacks.
According to the newspaper, Flacks is to approach Laura Ashley's Malaysian controlling shareholders about taking it private and reviving it. The embattled British retailer is controlled by the MUI Group of Malaysia.
Laura Ashley Chair Andrew Khoo said Monday: "If and when an approach is made, the board will discharge its duties as always and assess it on its relative merits."
"I would however like to state for the record that as major shareholders of Laura Ashley, we have no intention of divesting our shareholding. Whilst I understand why potential parties would think we are significantly undervalued, I have complete confidence that we will be able to grow profitably and in a sustainable manner so as to create long-term value for our shareholders," Khoo added.
Laura Ashley swung to pretax loss of GBP1.5 million for the interim period to the end of 2018 from a GBP4.3 million pretax profit a year ago. In December, the company announced plans to close 40 stores, reducing its store footprint to 120 from 160.
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