FINANCIAL TIMES: Disruptive eyes stamp dealer Stanley Gibbons
Fund run by investor Edi Truell makes unsolicited approach for 161-year-old group
Stanley Gibbons, the 161-year-old stamp and collectibles group, has received an unsolicited takeover bid from Disruptive, the fund run by veteran investor Edi Truell, a former adviser to Boris Johnson.
The news triggered a 25 per cent increase in the Aim-listed company’s share price to 14p on Friday. In a stock market announcement Stanley Gibbons described the discussions as an “unsolicited approach” and said “there can be no certainty that any offer will be made nor as to the terms on which any such offer might be made”.
The takeover bid follows a turbulent couple of years for the stamp collecting group. The company has suffered since a disastrous debt-fuelled acquisition spree, which included its lossmaking investment in The Marketplace, an eBay-style auction website that has since closed.
During the past 18 months, Stanley Gibbons has issued a series of profit warnings, tapped investors for £13m to bolster its finances, replaced its auditors, appointed corporate restructuring specialists and made the chief executive and chief financial officer redundant. In the 12 months to March 31 2016, it recorded a pre-tax loss of £28.9m.
More recently, the company has sold assets to pay off debts, including its interiors division, which makes furniture. It also disposed of a 25 per cent stake in Masterpiece, the operator of the Masterpiece London art and antiques fair, for £1.4m.
The attempt to buy Stanley Gibbons is unusual for Disruptive Capital, which has investments in magazine publisher, Imagine, bioresearch company, IRX Therapeutics and undersea cable group, Atlantic Superconnection.
Disruptive was unavailable for comment.
Stanley Gibbons traces its roots back to 1856 when Edward Stanley Gibbons bought a sackful of rare South African stamps from two sailors........
https://www.ft.com/content/3ae1c26e-4d1d-11e7-a3f4-c742b9791d43
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