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(Alliance News) - John Menzies PLC shares soared by a third on Wednesday, after it said it had rejected an unsolicited bid approach from Agility Public Warehouse Co KSC.
A subsidiary of Agility, a Kuwaiti logistics firm, made a cash offer for aviation services business John Menzies at 510 pence a share.
This follows a previous unsolicited cash offer of 460p a share, John Menzies said.
The board and financial advisors, Goldman Sachs International, "carefully" considered the second proposal before concluding it was "entirely opportunistic, conditional and that the terms fundamentally undervalue Menzies and its future prospects," the company said.
Shares in Menzies were up 33% to 446.00 pence in London on Wednesday morning.
Although the offer represents a 52% premium to the company's closing share price of 335.00p on Tuesday, Menzies maintains it is an undervaluation. The company said it is still in the process of recovering from the pandemic, with underlying volumes still not back at pre-Covid levels and the full impact of management actions not yet felt.
Menzies has removed GBP25 million in permanent costs since 2019, it noted, and its new commercial approach has brought in GBP120 million of net new annualised revenue.
Agility's offer also fails to consider its growth potential, as freight and flight continue to recover, Menzies argued.
"The board remains fully confident in the recovery and outlook for the global aviation services industry as it returns to pre-pandemic trading levels and benefits from long term structural growth drivers," said Chair & Chief Executive Officer Philipp Joeinig.
Menzies will announce its annual results for 2021 on March 8.
By Elizabeth Winter; elizabethwinter@alliancenews.com
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