HTH Hartest Hldgs.

 

TIDMHTH 
 
RNS Number : 4475H 
Hartest Holdings PLC 
22 February 2010 
 

                      ANNOUNCEMENT BY HARTEST HOLDINGS PLC 
                    ('Hartest', the 'Group' or the 'Company') 
 
22 February 2010 
 
Termination of Offer Period 
 
The Board of Hartest Holdings Plc notes the announcement by Delta Controls 
Limited ("Delta") that Delta does not intend to make an offer for Hartest. 
 
This draws to a conclusion a period of nearly 8 months in which the Company has 
been subject to bid speculation and endured the effects of being in such a 
position. 
 
The indicative offer price, payable in cash, that had been proposed by Delta 
reached 68.33 pence per share (after the interim dividend already declared by 
Hartest); the Hartest Board felt this price would offer shareholders an 
opportunity to exit at a reasonable value which they might not otherwise have 
been accorded through normal trading on AIM.  Therefore, whilst the possibility 
of an offer at this level was maintained and Delta's claimed ability and 
willingness to finance such an offer continued to exist, the Board of Hartest 
was prepared to continue discussions and extend the "put up or shut up" deadline 
imposed by the Takeover Panel. 
 
Peter Gyllenhammar (Bronsstadet Group), Hartest's largest shareholder (29.95%), 
has from the outset clearly expressed to the Board of Hartest that he was not 
willing to accept the proposed offer from Delta at the indicated price as he did 
not believe it reflected the company's true value.  Delta was aware of Mr 
Gyllenhammar's position during the Offer Period. 
 
Whilst the Directors of Hartest are disappointed that the significant investment 
of time and expense by the Company in this process will not result in 
shareholders being given the opportunity to consider an offer, they are pleased 
that their attention can now be focussed solely on the operations of the 
business. 
 
Trading Update 
 
In the interim results to 30 September 2009, announced on 10 December 2009, it 
was noted that profitability in the first half of the year had proved to be 
better than expected and at that point the trend had continued across Group 
operations. Subsequently, the Group has continued to trade very profitably, 
supported by strong cash flow, and the Company's financial position is sound. 
 
The Group typically experiences a significant bias in trading and performance 
levels in the second half of the financial year, and it anticipates that this 
traditional second half weighting will repeat itself in the current period to 31 
March 2010, augmented by the additional profitability gained earlier in the 
year. 
 
The Company expects to announce its preliminary results for the year ended 31 
March 2010 by mid June 2010. 
 
 Geoff Spink, Chairman and Chief Executive of Hartest, said 
 
"Naturally, we regret that the effort and cost we expended with various 
interested parties since the commencement of the Offer Period in July 2009 has 
not resulted in the presentation of a cash offer to shareholders which might 
have provided an opportunity for them to realise value in a currently illiquid 
market. 
 
It should be noted that the approaches were all unsolicited, and in spite of the 
inconvenience created by the Offer Period, the Group continues to enjoy good and 
improving profitability and growth, supported by strong cash flow.  We look 
forward to generating increasing shareholder value going forward.  Shareholders 
will also note that the Board was able to resume dividend payments at the time 
of the recent interim announcement." 
 
 
 
Enquiries - please contact: 
 
+------------------------------+--------------------+---------------+ 
| Geoff Spink                  | Hartest Holdings   | 01252 749 530 | 
|                              | Plc                |               | 
+------------------------------+--------------------+---------------+ 
| Chairman and Chief Executive |                    |               | 
+------------------------------+--------------------+---------------+ 
|                              |                    |               | 
+------------------------------+--------------------+---------------+ 
| William Vandyk               | Astaire Securities | 020 7448 4400 | 
+------------------------------+--------------------+---------------+ 
| Director                     |                    |               | 
+------------------------------+--------------------+---------------+ 
|                              |                    |               | 
+------------------------------+--------------------+---------------+ 
| Adam Reynolds                | Hansard Group      | 020 7245 1100 | 
+------------------------------+--------------------+---------------+ 
| Kirsty Corcoran              |                    |               | 
+------------------------------+--------------------+---------------+ 
 
 
 
This information is provided by RNS 
            The company news service from the London Stock Exchange 
   END 
 
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