Billionaire ex-Tory treasurer ups Chapel Down stake after shares collapse
The billionaire founder of city brokerage ICAP, Lord Michael Spencer, has upped his stake in English wine maker Chapel Down.
The former treasurer of the Conservative party serves as a non-executive director of the Kent-headquartered company and now holds a 27.3 per cent stake.
The increase comes after Lord Spencer bought 50,000 ordinary shares at 33.5p each through his IPGL Limited.
Shares in Chapel Down suffered a huge slump in September 2024 after the publication of its half-year results.
At the time, the company blamed “one-off factors” for its pre-tax profit almost being wiped out.
The AIM-listed business revealed its pre-tax profit had been slashed from £2.4m to £40,000 in the six months ended 30 June due to a ‘difficult macroeconomic environment’, a fall in the value of its produce and ‘tough comparatives’ from 2023.
In a separate announcement, Chapel Down announced that chief executive Andrew Carter would step down in the first half of 2025. James Pennefather was named as his successor earlier this month.
Chapel Down shares fail to recover after slump
In the aftermath of the half-year results, shares in the company fell from 69.5p to 48p.
They had been trading at 80p in July 2024 but are now changing hands for 34p.
In December 2024, Lord Spencer increased his stake in start-up Nutshell Asset Management and became its chairman.
He launched City brokerage firm ICAP in 1986 while the company entered the FTSE 100 20 years later before it was split into two entities.
Lord Spencer is the largest single shareholder in Chapel Down, ahead of former Saracens chairman Nigel Wray.
At the end of 2024, Lord Spencer argued that bosses of London-listed firms should be paid like the best footballers without facing a backlash.
He said that to attract top talent to run major companies, the UK needed to tackle the “political hot potato” of FTSE bosses’ pay.
“We don’t mind paying our footballers, top-rate footballers, extraordinary amounts of money,” the billionaire said.
“Somehow that’s considered perfectly acceptable. But if the CEO of BP or HSBC earns £20m a year, materially less than their peer group in America, everyone jumps up and down saying this is an outrage.”