Yates presses on after takeover talks end

Yates Group is pressing ahead with its expansion plans and a management shake-up after the end of talks over a possible takeover offer.

It has announced that it has terminated "preliminary discussions" with an unnamed company, which were announced on June 8.

The most likely would-be buyer was thought to be bar and club operator Luminar, although several others have been linked with the talks.

Chairman Peter Dickson said: "Following an approach, weexplored the possibility of an offer for the company. It became clear that this could not be concluded in a way that reflects the potential value of Yates' brands.

"We will continue to focus on developing aggressively thatvalue for shareholders and expect to announce the strengthening of the executive team in the near future."

Yates intends to split Mr Dickson's role of chairman and chief executive and expects to appoint a new chief executive within six months. It is also due to announce a new finance director after Jerry Green left earlier this year.

The group has been improving the performance of its core Yates's Wine Lodge brand after the chain suffered from falling margins last year.

Its scaled-down expansion plans will see the opening of another six Wine Lodges and another six Ha! Ha! Bar & Canteen outlets over the next 12 months.

News of the preliminary talks originally pushed the company's shares up by over 22 per cent from 179.5p to 219.5p, but on Friday they dropped back down to 180.5p. However, this is still an improvement on its six-year low in January of 127p.

Related stories:

Talks continues as Yates turns around Wine Lodges (June 14, 2001)

Yates in talks over possible takeover offer (June 8, 2001)