Member Info for alex1621

It might well be the case that the other shareholders have already agreed to invest at 31p and take up any slack from retail investors for the rest? I don't think they have launched this and are now crossing their fingers that investors subscribe ... I think the money is in place. It looks like a move designed to recover control from Ashley and retail shareholders that support him.

Could someone copy and paste - I don't have access to it.

£35m is chicken feed to Mike Ashley. It was reported that he raised over £200m by using 5% of his Frasers holding as collateral. The problem is that you cannot keep on buying shares without making a bid for the entire company. Once he gets above 30% he has to make an offer. Even with the dilution he'd only need to get to the equivalent of 33%.

But if he goes right up to 30% he may find himself in the same position as he was with Mulberry. The controlling shareholders (Kamani + cabal) own greater than 50% and can stymy him. If this move by the Board is legal I think the only option open to Ashley is to make a bid for the company. Or walk away. Or start proceedings in the Courts if his lawyers think he has a case.

It looks like £39.3 million is being raised, with around 126,908,442 shares being issued. That is around 10% of the existing shareholding. The funds will be applied to reduce group borrowing.

Around 85% of the shares to be issued, 107,553,604 are placing/subscription shares. Subscription shares are for US institutional investors. This is intended to raise £33.3m.

I'm not 100% sure how that works, but these shares are being bought by specific investors, and I don't believe that Ashley is one of them.

The remaining shares, 19,354,838 are Retail Offer shares, shares that can be taken up (or not) by existing retail shareholders. I suspect any not taken up will go to the specific investors referred to above. This is intended to raise £6.0m

So 85% new shares to specific shareholders and the remaining 15% on offer to retail shareholders. As many retail shareholders will not take up the offer the new shareholders will pick up greater than 85% of the issue.

I am guessing of course but it looks as if it has been designed to take away Ashley's ability to get a positive result at the EGM. So even if we all backed Ashley the cabal of Kamani and new shareholders have enough of the votes to stave off an attempt by Ashley to take control as CEO.

I don't know how a Court would view these moves, but I suspect we are about to find out.

BlackFox - I suspect that this was an attempt to ambush Mike Ashley and present him with a fait accompli. It is possible they have convened a friendly group of investors and worked out what they need to do to get effective control of the company, and that is why the shares are being sold? As you say they could take one of the brands/property and raise enough money to pay off a large chunk of debt, without diluting the shares. So I suspect it is about taking back control from Ashley.

I wonder what Ashley will do here? He will have to move fast if he wants to take control, as the share issue takes place between the 14th and 15th of November.

I suspect there might be some legal challenges to these moves. It will dilute his holding and hand control to a small number of interested parties - Kamani family, Camelot and Schroder?

Just an avalanche of information after market closing accompanied by results that are poor, though not unexpected. And then an investor update tomorrow morning?

Doesn't give anyone time to absorb the information. Hardly transparent or shareholder friendly. The comments about Ashley and his motivations are pretty hard hitting. If he wants to run the show he'd best come up with an offer for the whole company.

Debenhams looks like a promising business and Karen Millen at least looks revived. I'm not sure they are the brand's that are up for sale? My thought was that Umar's return was about taking Pretty Little Thing private - and my concern was that any price paid would be to the detriment of retail shareholders. Ashley's involvement might prevent this or at least ensure that a fair price is paid.

Feel as if retail shareholders are between a rock and a hard place, holding the coats as the fight over the business comes to a head. Good luck everyone!

Would that be Georgeson? They are handling shareholder enquiries regarding the EGM requisition.

We are at the end of the day and yet no response to the EGM request? That’s pretty unprofessional to just let the deadline for response expire.

I’ll hold the coats!

I don’t think Shein would be prevented from purchasing Boohoo as the current Government, like the last one, are courting them. Add to that the Shein PR consultant who worked for free in Rachel Reeves campaign during the election. And prospective UK Ambassador for the US Mandelson is a paid advisor. They have laid the ground for a London listing. I can’t think of any grounds for Competition authorities to investigate.

It looks like Boohoo are attempting to shore up support with the other major investors to prevent Ashley from succeeding at the EGM.

If successful, what can Ashley do? A takeover seems possible, using cash and Frasers shares perhaps? Or teaming up with another interested party?

According to the rules Ashley can call an EGM within 3 months of the requisition request date.

So if nothing appears today I’d expect him to act swiftly on that. Ashley previously accused them of stonewalling. I wonder why?

No update or EGM news in the 7AM batch of RNS? 21st day is today.

I believe if the company do not call one then the requester, in this case Ashley, can call one … but that would delay matters.

Wonder if we will see confirmation today or not?

I expect the response to the EGM requisition will be tomorrow. I wonder of they will muddy the waters with the trading update as well? Early November is here, now.

I think quite the opposite. For probably the first time since setting up in business Kamani can envision his business being taken away from him. And as for the "market" ... it only has news to work from. And the news is that the company is not performing well and the two biggest shareholders are fighting with each other publicly. Not exactly bullish.

The only positive as I see it is that things are coming to a head ... as sale of some or all of the business. I'm not sure that Ashley can secure control unless he bids.

Why stall? Perhaps the reason for the delay in the results is because it will be accompanied by updates on asset sales or some other development ... present Ashley with a fait accompli before he can do anything. Would be risky though, because the non executives would have to show in a Court that it was done in the interests of shareholders, or potentially face personal liability. On the other hand, the Board could legally claim that Ashley as CEO involves a conflict of interest that is detrimental to shareholders. Which puts the kibosh on any CEO role.

I think Ashley's only clear option is to bid for the whole company and then he can do whatever he wants. Debenhams, which is well ahead of plan, may pay for the deal in the long run, because of its future growth potential. If the Board had got their act together that may have been a wonderful business over the long term.

Just checked and the 21 days to respond to the EGM requisition is reached by Wednesday 13 November. I believe they have to call the meeting within 28 days. That takes you to 11 December 2024. A bit of excitement in the run up to Christmas.

I suspect that Finley would have reached out and engaged with Ashley like the others he is meeting - he indicated in a recent interview that he would do so. But that's presuming he is free to do so?

Let's be honest, like Lyttle before him, Finley does not call the shots at Boohoo ... Kamani does. He was put in the position suspiciously quickly? Like a pawn in a Chess move.

I've no idea how this will all play out, but the presence of Ashley, at the moment at least, is a positive - neither Ashley or Kamani can pull a fast one on retail shareholders. In that respect they keep each other honest (or as honest as we can hope for).

I don't see how they can work together given all the acrimony of the last few weeks. Bear in mind that if Ashley managed to get the CEO role your shareholding will be diluted as he raises funds to pay off the debt. A full scale takeover may be a preferable outcome. And hopefully there are more than one interested bidder.

So we have a Trump presidency whose representatives have indicated he is going to impose tariffs across the board, and 60% on China. Amazon have been impacted by Chinese competitors like Temu, so perhaps that is why Jeff Bezos told the Washington Post editorial team not to tell their readership to vote for the Democrats. Instead they were ordered to say nothing. Jeff was also first out of the blocks to congratulate Trump on his appointment.

If Trump does what he says he's going to do the Shein/Temu model just doesn't work in the US. If Europe go ahead and scrap de minimus rules along with the US the situation for them both competitively becomes worse.

I don't think that the Shein/Temu business model is sustainable long term, it is only a matter of time before regulation eats into their advantage. And competitors that can keep in the game might well bounce back strongly.

The interim results are much later than normal, but I have no idea when they will be published. Perhaps they want to update on asset sales or brand valuations? They will have to explain the details of the US DC debacle, which will require write offs. A gift to Ashley.