Pinewood shares slump after Apax backs away from takeover bid

(Alliance News) - Pinewood Technologies Group PLC on Monday saw its shares plummet after former suitor Apax Partners LLP said it no longer intends to make an offer for Pinewood.

The Birmingham, England-based firm provides software for automotive sellers and joined the FTSE 250 index back in September. Its shares fell 31% to 300.03 pence on Monday morning in London, and are down 12% over the past year.

Late last month, Pinewood responded to press speculation by saying it was in discussions with Apax regarding a possible cash offer of 500 pence per share, following multiple earlier approaches.

London-based private equity firm Apax on Friday confirmed it would not be making a formal offer, "in light of the prevailing challenging market conditions".

Pinewood stressed that it "remains very confident in the positive long-term prospects for the group", given its "long-standing" partnerships with orginal equipment manufacturers.

The company also estimated that taking full ownership of Pinewood North America LLC, and taking on a new contract, will lead to USD60 million in annual revenue by the end of 2028. Total revenue for the 11 months to the end of 2024 was GBP31.2 million.

Pinewood added that these deals "represent significant milestones that put the company in a strong position to grow its share of the North American automotive dealer software market."

It continues to target underlying earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation between GBP58 million and GBP62 million by 2028. This compares to GBP14.0 million in underlying Ebitda for financial 2024.

Pinewood is due to release its 2025 results on April 22.

By Holly Munks, Alliance News reporter

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