Science Group turns up heat in bid to takeover TP Group – CityAM : CityAM
Science Group has made a further share purchase in an engineering firm after its attempts to buy the company were repeatedly rebuffed by the board.
As of today, Science Group holds 140,528,829 shares in TP Group giving the company 18.03 per cent of voting share capital.
Last week Science Group, a services and product development organisation, attempted to acquire TP at a price of 5.8 pence per share, but was told the offer “significantly undervalues TP Group.”
Science pushed for a General Meeting to be called to replace TP’s Chairman and a nonexecutive director with members of its own board. In response, TP Group said it had “no intention of engaging with Science Group.”
TP has rejected Science’s revised offer of 6.5 pence per share, a price which the would be purchaser insisted was amply generous as it represented a premium of close to 67 per cent on the company’s share price when it made its initial investment.
Today’s purchase will make Science Group difficult to ignore. The spurned suitor heavily criticised TP Group board in its announcement of the purchase, claiming that it has “consistently failed” to create “value for shareholders.”
“The TP Group Board seeks to blame the poor performance of the Company on the Covid-19 pandemic. Yet, while the performance of TP Group has been weak, Science Group has reported resilient performance over the past two years,” the statement continued.
In 2020 TP Group reported operating losses of £4.8m and statutory loss after tax of £10m despite boosting revenue by 20 per cent year-on-year to £59.0m.
Today, TP’s share price is down 0.79 per cent while Science Group shares have climbed 1.3 per cent.
Read more: GSK sets out plans for new £400m life sciences campus