Clipper shares climb 14 per cent on GXO takeover offer
Clipper logistics saw shares climb 14 per cent today following news the company is being courted with a £947m takeover offer from US suitor GXO.
Clipper, which handles orders for major retailers including Asda, Asos and John Lewis, welcomed the mixed cash and stock offer which values the company at 920p per share. Today, share price topped 900p – just shy of Clipper Logistics’ all time high of 910p.
GXO’s chief executive Malcolm Wilson told Morning Wire that the two companies have “highly complementary service offerings, customer portfolios, and footprints in the UK and Europe,” making them “natural partners.”
The board of Clipper has told GXO, a $9.3bn logistics company which works with Apple and Nike, that it will recommend its takeover to its shareholders if a firm offer is made. The prospective offer will see logistics giant GXO stump up 690p in cash and 230p worth of new company stocks to acquire each Clipper share.
The deal puts a premium of 49 per cent on the closing price of Clipper shares the day before the offer was first made in late January, but only 18 per cent higher than Friday’s close price.
Clipper first floated on the London Stock Exchange at 100p a share in 2014. The company has experienced booming growth during the pandemic, with shares climbing over 420 per cent since the commencement of lockdown in March 2020.
Group revenue climbed by almost a third in the latest financial year to £629m while underlying profit after tax climbed 61 per cent to £21.7m. Shares closed at 777p on Friday, giving the company a value of £800m.
Clipper’s founder Steve Parkin, who has given the Conservative party some £725,000, sparked controversy during the pandemic when the company received a £1.3m PPE distribution contract.
Read more: Clipper confirms £947m takeover offer by GXO logistics