MusicMagpie shares soar as it reveals rival bids from Aurelius and BT
MusicMagpie shares soar as it reveals rival bids from Aurelius and BT
MusicMagpie has confirmed that talks about a potential sale to either BT Group or investment company Aurelius are underway.
The Stockport-based business, known for selling secondhand electronics, said talks were at ‘a very early stage’ and that there was ‘no certainty’ of an offer being made from either party.
It has also struggled to become profitable due to higher costs from sourcing goods and its growing use of third-party platforms, such as Amazon, eBay and BackMarket.
For the six months ending May, MusicMagpie saw pre-tax losses more than triple to £3.2million and turnover drop by £9million to £62million.
Books and disc media sales declined at a faster-than-anticipated pace, falling by £4.5million to £20.8million, while demand for consumer technology goods shrunk by £4.8million to £41.2million.
The group blamed the overall half-year performance on weak consumer confidence and postal strikes around the Christmas and New Year periods.
It warned that trading conditions remained challenging but said annual forecasts were expected to be fulfilled because of cost savings, improving momentum, and its focus on high-margin sales.
MusicMagpie shares soared 26 per cent to 23.7p on Monday morning following the announcement of takeover talks, making them one of the top five risers on the Aim All-Share Index.
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