31st Jan 2019 13:20
LONDON (Alliance News) - Western Gate Private Investments Ltd, a 10% shareholder in Stock Spirits Group PLC, on Thursday reiterated its intent to vote against the re-election of two of the company's directors.
On Monday, Western Gate said it wanted Non-Executive Chair David Moloney and Senior Independent Director John Nicolson to be removed from the board, on the grounds of alleged poor strategy and a failure to make mergers and acquisitions last year.
Stock Spirits said on Monday that the two directors have the support of the board.
The shareholder's response came as the drinks company on Thursday announced the acquisition of Distillerie Franciacorta SpA, an Italian producer of grappa, limoncello and sparkling wine for EUR26.5 million in total.
"Assuming this is a cash acquisition, it will be immaterial to the company’s balance sheet. Stock Spirits will continue to have the lowest net debt/Ebitda position among its peers, and its ability to deliver cash back to shareholders through a higher and or special dividend or do further M&A is unchanged," Western Gate said in a statement.
"This simply does not go far enough and is another example of Stock Spirits only acting under pressure from shareholders," the shareholder added.
Shares in Stock Spirits were up 4.1% at 230.00 pence on Thursday.
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