Bonmarché management sells shares to Philip Day

By

Sandra Halliday

Published
Jul 2, 2019

One of Bonmarché’s biggest shareholders accused management of “throwing in the towel” in recent days after recommending a low takeover offer that it had previously rebuffed. And that criticism seems justified on Tuesday with news that the senior executive team have all sold their stakes in the company to Philip Day’s Spectre Holdings.

Chief executive Helen Connolly, finance director Stephen Alldridge and senior independent non-executive director Isobel Macpherson have sold their stakes to the retailer’s majority owner just a few weeks after advising shareholders that the £5.7 million offer was too low, and a few days after changing their minds due to ongoing weak trading.

The sale comes after news that the company's third largest shareholder, Cavendish Asset Management, had sold its almost-11% stake to Spectre for £0.6 million.

The management holdings don't add up to quite as much with Connolly’s amounting to less than £5,000 and Alldridge generating almost £60,000.

But it all puts Day closer to his goal of achieving a 75% stake in the company, at which point he will be able to delist it. It's believed that he now owns around 67% and the deadline for the end of the offer is looming.

Day, who owns Edinburgh Woollen Mill, Peacocks, Jaeger and Austin Reed among other businesses, acquired a 52.4% chunk of Bonmarché shares several months ago with the purchase triggering a mandatory takeover bid.