Several long-term shareholders in Aryzta have seen their stake in the company decimated after they were effectively locked out of a major rights issue.
As reported by The Irish Times, the shareholders received notice of how to go about claiming their rights but had to indicate their interest to their intermediary by Monday, the day before the letters arrived, in order to meet Thursday's deadline.
The afflicted shareholders were formerly listed in IAWS, the Irish food group that merged with Hiestand Holding to form Aryzta in 2009.
Rights Issue
The Irish Times reported that upon forming the Swiss-Irish company, investors were given the choice of holding shares in electronic form, receiving information electronically, or to continue holding them in traditional paper form and be contacted by post.
The value of shares at the company has fallen to one Swiss franc (€0.88) apiece after shareholders narrowly approved a ten-for-one rights issue at last week’s annual meeting of investors.
Anyone who failed to subscribe for the shares will lose out and receive no payment for lost shares, with a number of those contacted by post running out of time.
The result of this is any stake held in the business ahead of the rights issue will only be worth one-tenth of that amount. Shares in the company have already been falling as a result of poor performances and a series of profit warnings in recent years.
© 2018 Checkout – your source for the latest Irish retail news. Article by Aidan O’Sullivan. Click subscribe to sign up for the Checkout print edition.
