Harvey Nichols taken private
Department store group drops stock market listing
February 1 2003
Upmarket UK department store group Harvey Nichols has ended its decade-long listing and reverted to a private company.
Harvey Nichols‘ listing on the London Stock Exchange was cancelled from 8am on Friday.
Broad Gain, the company controlled by Harvey Nichols chairman Dickson Poon, announced earlier this week that it has 98.66 per cent of shares, following the launch of a 250p-a share buyback offer by Poon in October.
Some institutional shareholders argued that Poon’s offer undervalued the business, frcoing him to revise the structure of the offer. However, the City has tended to judge Harvey Nichols harshly. With the flagship Knightsbridge store working to recover from trading difficulties following the downturn in tourism, and a costly expansion programme which has seen store openings in Edinburgh, Leeds and Birmingham, with Manchester to follow this year, Poon believes the Harvey Nichols is better placed to grow in private hands.
