Tenon rejects buy-out bids
Tenon brings long-running bid speculation to an end, and will remain listed
Tenon, the AIM-listed accounting group, will remain a listed company after
months of speculation that it was going to be taken private.
Earlier this year the firm, which struggled to ignite its share price,
undertook a strategic review – prompting chief executive Andy Raynor to consider
doing an MBO.
Analysts, however, expressed concerns about the level of debt at Tenon and
said this would act as a major deterrent to any potential buyers.
Yesterday, Tenon said it had completed the review, and after considering
‘several indicative offers’, had decided against going private as none of the
‘expressions of interest reflected full value’.
Tenon made the announcement as it updated the market on trading ahead of its
30 June 2006 year end. Tenon said trading in the second half of the year had
been ‘significantly better than expected’ and that pre-tax profits would not
come in below £10m.
The group added that it was revamping the way it remunerated senior
executives, and that improved cash generation would reduce the levels of debt
analysts had expressed concern about.
‘Our period of review has not interrupted the growth of the business and we
will deliver significantly improved results for the year. We confidently look
forward to a bright future,’ said Tenon chairman Neil Johnson.
Tenon’s share price was up by 18.18% at 26p on the news.