John Wood Group PLC is facing a call from a large shareholder to explore a sale, Sky News reported on Monday evening.
Roy Franklin, the chair of the Aberdeen, Scotland-based engineering and consulting business, is said to have received a letter from Sparta Capital Management Ltd, indicating dissatisfaction with John Wood’s share price.
https://news.sky.com/story/engineer-wood-group-faces-sparta-call-to-explore-sale-13116045
Sparta is understood by Sky to be a top-ten shareholder in John Wood. Bloomberg back in December 2022, citing people familiar with the matter, reported that Sparta is a top-10 shareholder in the company.
The letter is said to encourage John Wood to engage with any suitable bidders if John Wood concludes that shareholder value will be maximised through a sale of the company.
In May last year, a £1.7 billion takeover bid by Apollo Management Holdings LP collapsed.
Apollo announced a fifth proposal in early April 2023 to acquire John Wood for 240 pence per share in cash. The offer represented a 59% premium to John Wood’s closing price of 151p per share at the time, and a 20% premium to the initial proposal of 200p per share.
John Wood shares closed 0.3% higher at 140.40 pence each on Monday in London. They are 38% lower than a year prior and 71% lower than five years ago.
Last month, John Wood reported revenue in 2023 rose 7.9% to $5.90 billion from $5.47 billion. Its pretax loss narrowed to $62.7 million from $691.4 million. Further, it lifted its outlook and announced a ‘simplification programme’ to trim costs.
Sparta in the letter noted operational achievements by John Wood over the last 18 months since it launched a new corporate strategy, but said that if the UK public markets are unwilling to engage, it should seek alternative solutions.
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