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Could the latest company listed on the London Stock Exchange turn out the lights?
While the situation may not be that dire yet, another company is about to fall into private hands.
Technology group Smartspace Software, whose platform allows businesses to book office space, has agreed a £28.35m acquisition.
He said the 90 pence per share offer first proposed in late January by Sign In Solutions (SIS), backed by private equity firm PSG, is “fair and reasonable”.
According to SIS, almost half of Smartspace shareholders backed the deal or expressed their intention to do so.
Technology group Smartspace Software, whose platform allows businesses to book office space, has agreed a takeover offer of £28.35m and 90p per share.
At least 75 percent must approve the acquisition for it to occur.
Smartspace soared 13.3 per cent, or 10p, to 85p.
The city has already seen carrier Wincanton and telecoms testing group Spirent targeted by US predators, while Currys and Direct Line are also attracting overseas attention.
Smartspace became an acquisition target late last year after it revealed that Skedda, an online booking and scheduling platform, proposed an offer of 82 pence per share.
But the company said it would recommend SIS’s to shareholders. Skedda decided to leave the talks on February 19.
Bidding wars have also swept through the UK real estate investment trust sector. Abrdn Property Income again asked its shareholders to support Custodian’s merger proposal instead of Urban Logistics.
Stock Watch – Abingdon Health
Abingdon Health is on track to break even this year thanks to a strong pipeline of new lateral flow testing contracts.
Revenue more than doubled to £2.4m in the six months to December 31, while losses halved to £1.2m.
The York group is working on 29 lateral flow projects and expects sales for the year to June 30 to be up from £4m a year earlier.
The shares rose 28.2p, or 1.91p, to 8.66p, having hit a high of 125.6p in 2021.
Revenue more than doubled to £2.4m in the six months to December 31, while losses halved to £1.2m.
Abrdn Property Income shares rose 1.3 per cent, or 0.7 pence, to 55.7 pence, while Custodian Property Income REIT fell 3 per cent, or 2.3 pence, to 75.2 pence and Urban Logistics REIT added 0.7 per cent, or 0.8 pence, to 117.6 pence. .
The FTSE 100 fell 0.6 per cent, or 48.87 points, to 7,723.30 and the FTSE 250 fell 0.4 per cent, or 82.67 points, to 19,481.25.
Trainline shares soared to an 18-month high after its ticket sales rose by more than a fifth to £5.3bn in the year to the end of February.
Sales of the online ticketing app in the UK soared 23 per cent to £3.5bn due to fewer strikes.
Chief executive Jody Ford said Trainline was a “homegrown British tech success that has crossed national borders to become the most downloaded rail app in Europe”. The shares rose 14.1 per cent, or 46 pence, to 373.2 pence, their highest level since September 2022.
Housebuilder Vistry also rose – up 7.2 per cent, or 80p to 1,196p – after saying it sold 16,118 new homes in 2023, more than a third more than the previous year.
It remains on track to build more than 17,500 this year.
Savills remained optimistic that business would improve, as it expects the market to recover during the second half of this year and into 2025.
The estate agent’s revenue fell 3 per cent last year to £2.24bn, while profits fell by almost two-thirds to £55.4m due to continued economic pressures.
AstraZeneca is to buy Amolyt, a clinical-stage biotech company developing treatments for rare diseases, in an £820m deal. The Anglo-Swedish pharmaceutical giant fell 0.5 per cent, or 52 pence, to 10,406 pence.