{"id":7895,"date":"2019-02-25T16:32:14","date_gmt":"2019-02-25T16:32:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.styledeals.co.uk\/blog\/laura-ashley-faces-possible-takeover-bid\/"},"modified":"2019-02-25T16:32:14","modified_gmt":"2019-02-25T16:32:14","slug":"laura-ashley-faces-possible-takeover-bid","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.styledeals.co.uk\/blog\/laura-ashley-faces-possible-takeover-bid\/","title":{"rendered":"Laura Ashley faces possible takeover bid"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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\"LauraImage copyright<\/span>
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Investment firm Flacks Group says it is in the early stages of evaluating a bid for struggling retailer Laura Ashley. <\/p>\n

The Miami-based group said in a statement<\/a> that it was in the “very preliminary” stages of considering a \u00a320m bid for Laura Ashley. <\/p>\n

The statement comes despite the current owner’s insistence it has no plans to sell the brand.<\/p>\n

Laura Ashley’s shares fell 1.2% to 3.2p as the offer values the company at 2.75p a share. <\/p>\n

Earlier on Monday, Laura Ashley chairman Andrew Khoo said<\/a>: “If and when an approach is made, the Board will discharge its duties as always and assess it on its relative merits.”<\/p>\n

However, he went on to give a firm rebuff to any potential investors: “I would however like to state for the record that as major shareholders of Laura Ashley, we have no intention of divesting our shareholding. <\/p>\n

“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.<\/p>\n

“We remain just as committed and passionate about this well-loved brand as when we first decided to invest in Laura Ashley over 20 years ago.”<\/p>\n

Last week, Laura Ashley issued a profit warning, telling investors that its full-year results were set to be lower than forecast amid “difficult” trading conditions.<\/p>\n

The fashion and home furnishings retailer also said it made zero profit for the last six months of 2018 as sales fell 4.2%.<\/p>\n

Laura Ashley, which is controlled by Malayan United Industries (MUI), has closed 40 UK stores since 2015. The group currently operates 156 stores in the UK<\/p>\n

Originally based in Wales, Laura Ashley grew from a small factory in Carno to become one of the world’s leading clothing brands in the 1970s and 1980s.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n


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Source<\/a> by [author_name]<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Image copyright Getty Images Investment firm Flacks Group says it is in the early stages of evaluating a bid for struggling retailer Laura Ashley. The Miami-based group said in a statement that it was in the “very preliminary” stages of considering a \u00a320m bid for Laura Ashley. The statement comes despite the current owner’s insistence … <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":7716,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7895","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-general"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.styledeals.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7895","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.styledeals.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.styledeals.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.styledeals.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7895"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.styledeals.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7895\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.styledeals.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7716"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.styledeals.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7895"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.styledeals.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7895"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.styledeals.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7895"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}