Shares in the parent company of Hotter Shoes have almost doubled after it revealed talks with a knitwear and jersey brand over a near £7m takeover deal.
WoolOvers Group is behind the proposed £6.8m deal for Skelmersdale-headquartered Unbound Group.
It is offering 10.5p per share which would represent a premium of approximately 162.5% to its closing price on March 27.
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Langholm Capital has backed Sussex-based WoolOvers Group since 2015.
The group has until April 25 to either make a firm offer or walk away.
Since the announcement was made to the London Stock Exchange, shares in Unbound Group have surged by over 90% to 7.75p each in early trading.
The potential takeover comes after shares in the group slumped after it warned its losses were expected to be higher than previously forecast.
The group said that "despite a cautionary outlook at the group's interim results, trading conditions in the second half of the financial year have been more challenging".
It added that "several external factors, including the extended period of hot weather, the impact of Royal Mail industrial action and broader economic conditions significantly impacted sales of our autumn/winter range in the final five months of the year".
As a result, the group said its full-year revenue is now expected to be between £53 and £54m, 3% to 4% growth on the prior year.
It also now expects to incur an adjusted pre-tax loss of between £4.25m and £4.75m.
Those figures were below the current consensus market expectations for the year to February 5, 2023, which are for a revenue of £57.7m and an adjusted pre-tax loss of £1.2m.
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