(Alliance News) - eve Sleep PLC on Monday said it is looking for a new owner to take the company private, as it warned that it will miss revenue targets for this year.
Shares in the London-based mattress maker were down 25% to 1.24 pence each in London on Monday morning, giving it a market capitalisation of GBP3.4 million.
eve Sleep said it needs new funding to push it into the "wider sleep wellness space". It is looking for a new owner, or a major new investor, the board said.
The company added that it has recently been in discussions with an unnamed US-based investor with respect to an investment into eve Sleep. These discussions developed into the investor expressing interest in buying the company. However, the discussions have since lapsed and the party has withdrawn its interest.
The board said that it is now in its "best interest" to explore all strategic and financing options, and therefore has launched a "formal sale process".
Further, the board reported that it does not expect the company to meet its revenue expectations for the current year. For the UK & Ireland arm, it expected 10% year-on-year growth.
Over the first five months to May 29, consumer sales orders in the UK & Ireland were down 15% annually and down 3% in France. It said these results are ahead of the wider industry, which had seen drops of 29% and 37%, in the two markets, respectively.
The company attributes declining consumer confidence and accelerating inflation to its year-to-date performance.
Chief Executive Cheryl Calverley said: "eve has the opportunity to become the first digital sleep wellness retailer given our award-winning mattress ranges, strong brand and suite of wellness products, including our new CBD sub-brand 'Well Slept' in the on trend and rapidly growing global sleep economy."
"However, in order to fully achieve this long term potential, particularly in the face of weakening consumer confidence, there is a need for additional investment," she added.
By Sophie Rose; sophierose@alliancenews.com
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