Victoria in plea to shareholders
Carpet manufacturer Victoria has urged shareholders not to support the rogue consortium attempting to take over the company.
The board of the Kidderminster-based group said in an interim management statement today (6 February) the minority shareholder group is "trying to take control" without giving reasons for wanting change or their strategy for the business.
On 13 January, the company announced it had instigated a formal sales process. It appointed business advisory firm BDO to handle the sale process and deal with enquiries from potential buyers. Victoria has given a deadline of late February for interested buyers to put forward their offers.
"Although there can be no certainty that any offer will be made for the company or its operating businesses, or even proposed, the company has currently set a deadline of the end of February 2012 for the announcement of any firm offer for the company or its operating businesses," it told the Stock Exchange today (6 February).
Total group revenue was up by 3.5 per cent for the three months to 31 December 2011 compared to the same period last year.
The John Lewis Partnership, the insurance replacement market and the contract market all continued to help sales grow at the business.
Victoria's sales in the UK were up "strongly" in the period by 11.2 per cent.
Sales dropped by 3.9 per cent in the group's Australian operation as concerns about the country's dependence on the mining sector and wider international factors such as the eurozone debt crisis impacted consumer sentiment in Australasia.
Victoria's planned move in the UK into the luxury vinyl flooring market this year is on target and proceeding well, the company said.
