Member Info for Paulleydee

Exceeding strong TU here from Asos.

Fellow fast fashion retailer H&M also announced its results today, with sales up 6% to 57.6 billion (4.24 billion) in the same three-month period. Shares are up 6.2%.

Crispin Odey is leaving Odey Asset Management as of Saturday, the firm's executive committee said in a statement, amid allegations of sexual harassment and misconduct from women who either worked at the hedge fund or had dealings with him. 101436 JUN 23

This is without doubt going to be taken over. I think the Turks now have to strike quick before he declares over 10 per cent.

https://www.thisismoney.co.uk/money/markets/article-12175011/Ashley-ups-Asos-stake-nearly-10-takeover-talk-mounts.html

Ohhh here we go he’s up to nearly 9.9 per cent!

They don’t comment. But they COULD deny the takeover chatter is amounting to anything. But no.

Don’t forget bosses told city reporters on the press call they were’ braced for a bid’

Well there is without doubt something big brewing here. This Guardian article tonight has it spot on.

Berenberg today mains a BUY rating with 940p target.

Excellent.

Bloomberg

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2023-06-06/ashley-s-frasers-raises-stake-in-online-retailer-asos-above-8

The bbc newsreader said "reports this evening are suggesting there now multiple bidders interested in taking over the firm"

It was in the main network radio news bulletin at 10pm across all the late shows on bbc local radio, i heard it on Radio London but a mate says same went out on Radio Manchester and Newcastle etc.

'reports now of multiple bidders'

I'm glad I topped out.

Takeover coming without a doubt.

So that's Sunday Times, Sunday Telegraph and now BBC News.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p0fncflk

Russ Mould, investment director at AJ Bell, said: ‘Takeover interest often emerges when a broken company lays out a recovery plan and there are early signs it is working.

‘Those green shoots can give a suitor confidence it is worth making a bid now rather than waiting for the company to be repaired and then having to pay a much higher price when the risks are lower.’

Think this is the station

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p0fncfkq

sounds like the main bbc radio news bulletin they take though as it didnt say radio london, just "bbc news"

think this is really hotting up now.

Also just heard it in the 8pm news bulletin on BBC Radio London, the capital's BBC news station. Newsreader said "multiple bidders interested".

Wow.

Today was just the beginning of the SP rise.

Just got to work and searched the Press Association copy on our wires ready for filing for the morning. City journos are putting in calls to Alibab Group. They are not commenting.

ASOS SHARES JUMP AFTER REPORTED £1BN BID FROM TURKISH RIVAL

PA Business

Asos has seen its shares surge higher after it was reported that the troubled online fashion firm had received a £1 billion takeover approach from a firm backed by China's Alibaba.

The retailer was approached by Turkish online fast fashion firm Trendyol in late December, according to a report in the Sunday Times.

As of Monday evening, the press and PR divisions at Alibaba Group and Trendyol were refusing to comment on future plans.

It is believed that the proposed deal will value Asos at between £10 and £12 a share.

News of the recent bid interest sent shares in Asos jumping 15% higher at one stage in Monday morning trading.

Trendyol - which in 2021 raised £265 million from Alibaba and 1.5 billion US dollars (£1.2 billion) from other investors including SoftBank and the Qatar Investment Authority - is said to have been working with advisers from Morgan Stanley on the approach.

But this evening, many city insiders are predicting a rival bid is about to surface in addition to the Alibaba-backed rival bid for the retailer.

Asos has seen its shares tumble as sales have languished and costs rocketed, with customer spending coming under pressure and shoppers returning to the high street.

The group was last month forced to raise funds in order to strengthen its balance sheet, with a £75 million investor cash call, as well as entering into a new £275 million debt facility.

The capital raise was backed by Danish billionaire Anders Holch Povlsen, who is Asos's biggest shareholder with a 26% stake.

Trendyol had approached Mr Povlsen about whether he would be interested in joining a possible takeover offer, the Sunday Times reported.

Asos this evening again declined to comment on the reported takeover interest. 050918 JUN 23

Up until this evening, I had only read the articles online but tonight I was at work and saw the actual newspapers, I have to say seeing the actual physical stories there - huge - in the 2 most respected broadsheet Sunday papers makes me think this really will rocket tomorrow.

It's LEAD story on the front of the Sunday Times Business supplement, the biggest story on the front page.

Same goes for the Telegraph, you turn the page to the business section of the Sunday Telegraph and there it is - a huge full page.

Just massive full on coverage.

Not one paper but two.

Now I've seen this I am just annoyed I did not buy more, I topped up at 369 but only put a few grand in.

My breakeven is 740. But I'm hoping this week it gets to that and perhaps even beyond.

I work for an agency wires team and have just done a search in prospects and Asos comes top in the city schedule for the morning. I am very happy to see this.

Reuters/PA - CITY/MARKETS/PROSPECTS: ALL EYES ON ASOS BIDS AS SPECULATION MOUNTS OVER BILLIONAIRES FIGHTING OVER THE FASHION RETAILER. WORDS PLANNED. CITY DESK 7AM.

Now as well as the Telegraph article this has just appeared in The Times (well on Sunday Times for tomorrow). Asos going to fly on Monday morning - I think all this will give boo a hell of a spike too

Asos is on bid alert after the troubled online fashion retailer received a £1 billion approach from a Turkish company backed by Chinese giant Alibaba.

City sources said Asos received an approach from Turkey’s Trendyol, a fast-growing online retailer, in late December. The mooted deal would have valued Asos at between £10 and £12 a share.

The retailer’s shares closed at £3.50 on Friday after it was ejected from the FTSE 250. Leading credit insurers have also recently withdrawn or reduced cover for the retailer’s suppliers, a move that could further squeeze its cash flow.

Trendyol is understood to have been working with advisers from Morgan Stanley. Neither party is under pressure to confirm discussions because there are no live talks. Asos and Trendyol declined

All in place for a huge bidding war now.

Will rocket Monday morning.

And the shorters knew exactly what was going down. Always follow Marshall Wace.

Could Ashley and Camelot couple up and do this together? Camelot also big holder in boohoo I believe.

Something big on the cards here, obviously. Look at what happened with THG just on takeover chatter. Wow.

I knew something was brewing

Glad I topped up at 359 now.

And with so many ii holding over 74% all it could take is the Dane contacting a few majors to take holding to 29.9% and force bid. Could be a nice squeeze coming and power struggle battle. The financing and placing certainly shored things up.

There was a strong finish Friday in the final minutes

Looks like we have seen the bottoms, large TR1’s been issued and more to follow. Shorts reduced and closing rapidly. As they knew this was brewing.

Next week for big moves and we will see some takeover rumours materialise into an RNS without doubt.

Weirdly I emailed investor relations for the first time yesterday. I own 5,000 shares and criticised the lack of director buys after results.

I had this back first thing today….

Dear Paul,

Thank you for getting in touch.

Yesterday we announced that we have strengthened our balance sheet through a new long term £275m financing facility alongside a fully underwritten non-pre-emptive cash placing of new ordinary shares to raise proceeds of c.£75m. In addition we announced a conditional retail offer of new ordinary shares.

As management were involved in the ongoing discussions relating to the refinancing and equity raise, they were restricted from buying and selling ASOS shares until the market was updated. We are pleased to have put in place a long-term covenant light debt structure, together with an equity raise supported by our two biggest shareholders. This gives us the long term stability to focus on creating long term value for our shareholders.

More broadly, we are confident in the progress we are making to accelerate the changes needed to transform ASOS into a sustainably profitable and cash generative business. Against a challenging backdrop, we have achieved a great deal in this period of reset and are well positioned to return to profitability in H2 FY23 and beyond. We are confident that ASOS will exit the year a more resilient and sustainably profitable business.

We are grateful to all our shareholders and would like to take this opportunity to thank you once again for your ongoing support.

Many thanks,

Lauren

Sophie Lund Yates from Hargreave Lansdown being very positive just a minute ago on Ian King Live, Sky News “the fact they got this issue away so quickly and easily is a very positive sign, there is a big underlying strength there to what is now essentially a strong proposition going forward”

Ian King “yeah they got this away in very quick time - a sign of confidence Sophie?”

Sophie “absolutely, it’s a sign of confidence despite this morning’s current share price”