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Ramsdens Holdings PLC on Tuesday accepted a £206 million bid from Fort Worth, Texas-based Firstcash Holdings Inc. The offer, to be facilitated through the acquisition vehicle Chess Bidco Ltd, comprises 600 pence per share cash and 9p in dividends that were announced earlier this month. The bid values the Stockton-on-Tees, England-based financial services provider and pawnbroker at up to £206 million on a fully diluted basis and implies an enterprise value on a pre-IFRS 16 basis of up to £203 million. In response, shares in Ramsdens soared 30% to 590.10 pence each in London on Tuesday. FirstCash is an international pawnbroking operator with over 3,300 locations in the US, Latin America and the UK. Its stock trades on the US Nasdaq market with a market value just over $10 billion. It entered the UK market through the £297 million acquisition of H&T Group PLC in 2025. Ramsdens said the bid offers a ‘clear and certain route to monetisation at an attractive valuation.’ Non-Executive Chair Simon Herrick said: ‘Unfortunately, the share price has not fully kept pace with the group’s positive profit and earnings per share growth and FirstCash has made a cash offer for the group which represents a 35% premium to the current share price.’ Copyright 2026 Alliance News Ltd. All Rights Reserved.
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