Margate model manufacturing company Hornby has announced it will cancel its listing on the London stock market and re-register as a private firm.
The company says: “Directors are confident that operating as a private entity will provide Hornby with the necessary agility for swift decision-making and efficient execution of strategy whilst not depriving shareholders of material benefit.”
Hornby has been a public company on the stock exchange since 1986 but says it considers re-registering as a private company will have a number of benefits.
In a letter to shareholders the firm says being on the junior Alternative Investment Market (AIM) involves a considerable annual cost of approximately £0.4 million associated with fees for a nominated adviser and broker, London Stock Exchange fees and the costs associated with being a quoted company.
It adds that becoming a private company would allow the executive management team to focus more time on operational management and execution of the company’s strategy and ‘streamline’ structural changes.
Hornby says: “Over recent years, Hornby has committed to implementing significant structural change and driving operational transformation for the benefit of all stakeholders in Hornby, not least its loyal shareholder base.
“This commitment has been evidenced by the Board’s strategic actions including acquisitions, divestments and operational restructuring. This has been most recently evidenced by the acquisition of a stake in Warlord Games, the acquisition of Corgi Model Club, the sale of LCD Enterprises, the headcount and restructuring in 2024 and the relocation of the Company’s logistics operations to the Midlands.
“The Board anticipates that for this process of structural change to continue at pace and to maximum effect, operating outside a publicly quoted environment would improve its decision-making ability and regulatory hurdles during a period demanding agility and focused execution.
“At the same time, the Board is conscious of the limited liquidity of the Company’s shares on AIM balanced against the regulatory burden and cost of maintaining the public quotation.
“Therefore, following an ongoing and in-depth evaluation, the Board has concluded that it is in the best interests of the Company and its Shareholders to seek Shareholder approval for the voluntary cancellation of admission of the Ordinary Shares to trading on AIM and for the Company to be re-registered as a private limited company.”
In January the firm, which has been based in Margate for 70 years, issued a trading update for the period between October 1 and December 31.
Group sales were 7% ahead of the same period for 2023, bucking the trend reported by the British Retail Consortium that UK non-food sales decreased by 1.5% versus previous year for the three months to 31 December.
Hornby group sales for the financial year to date are 8% ahead of last year, and gross profits are ahead by 10%.
Net debt marginally reduced in the quarter and was at £18.2 million by the end of December, compared to net debt £18.8 million at the end of September 2024.
The news follows on the heels of the most recent half yearly report that indicated Hornby is likely to continue with job reductions this year as part of a three year turnaround plan.
The firm made ‘significant’ headcount reductions with savings of around £1m of central costs in the six months to 30 September, 2024. A further £500,000 of savings are expected in 2025.
A general meeting General Meeting will be held on April 1 at Hornby’s base in Margate seeking Shareholder approval for the change.
The company has notified the London Stock Exchange of the date of the proposed cancellation which is expected to come into effect on 10 April.
Those who choose to will be able trade out of their shareholding following the proposed cancellation or remain as a shareholder in the private company.
As predicted since asset stripper parasite Ashley bought in & started ‘advising’ them it will be as the corporate bollox talk in this statement indicates mass firings & asset selling-expect them to move everything closer to Ashley in the next few years.
There will be no Hornby in Thanet-they already abandoned it for Sandwich years back, showing no loyalty to the area. It will be in Warwickshire, with Ashley pulling all the strings. Of course it has overwhelmingly been owned by an ‘asset management company’ with part of the business based in the offshore Cayman Islands-doing the tax & unregulated wheeze.
How’s that work when Ashley only owns 9.1% of the company? Talk about misinformation fuelled doomerism. Phoenix asset management are registered to a London address and pay uk taxes.
He might only own 9.1%-but he is the one calling the direction & he is the one getting the ‘credit’ for reducing their debt to a mere 18 million odd-meaning he will carry on adivsing them & will eventually own the majoirty of the company as a result as he brings their debt down via his usual methods.
Correct, which is why I said an arm of the business is registered in the Caymans, safe from UK regulation-as per their own website-The Phoenix UK Fund.
Read what the waffle corporate talk says-they want to fire as many people as possible & avoid regulation-namenly cutting corners, so more money goes to the owners/shareholders-including Ashley. This, like the Stagecoach boss who bought Manston for a quid, when nobody was wanting to spend hundreds of millions on it is what he does to his companies, he, like she asset strips them.
As per when the original story was here several months back about him buying in & calling the shots, I said the same thing about Hornby will no longer exist in Thanet & the deluded faithful-no dobt the ones who still believe the same porkies Freudmann has said about Manston for RSP in recent years, that he was saying when he was shilling for Wiggins decades back that never came true & withing weeks he was backtracking on-such as the ‘huge number of local jobs it would provide’ said it will never happen.
Hornby will be in the Midlands in short order, the staff will be fired & Thanet will have another empty building.