United Kingdom: Wolverhampton & Dudley Breweries agreed to buy Jennings Brothers
Wolverhampton & Dudley Breweries Plc, the operator of more than 1,600 U.K. pubs, announced on April 27 it agreed to buy Jennings Brothers Plc for GBP 45.8 million (€67.3m).
The 430 pence-a-share offer is 32 % more than Jennings closing price on April 8, the trading day before Wolverhampton, England-based Wolverhampton & Dudley said it was in talks with the company, known for distributing the nude calendar made famous by the movie “Calendar Girls.''
Wolverhampton & Dudley, the owner of the Pitcher & Piano bar chain and brewer of Banks's bitter, is pushing higher-priced premium brews such as Marston's FC creamy smooth bitter and pursuing acquisitions to combat slower demand for regular beer in British pubs. The company last year bought Burtonwood Plc and Wizard Inns Ltd.
“Jennings provides a strong geographic fit, operational benefits through scale, opportunities for cost savings and is expected to deliver value,'' Wolverhampton & Dudley said in a Regulatory News Service statement today.
Wolverhampton & Dudley shares dropped 1 percent to 1,030 pence as of 8:10 a.m. in London. The stock has shed 6.2 percent this year, trimming the company's market value to 786.6 million pounds. Jennings shares rose 2.5 percent to 417.5 pence.
Jennings was founded in 1828 when farmer John Jennings began brewing in the English village of Lorton, near Cockermouth, in the Lake District. Both Jennings, now based in Cockermouth, and Wolverhampton & Dudley lease many of their pubs to tenants, rather than hire people to manage them.
In the fiscal year ended Feb. 26, Jennings' net income rose 20 percent to 2.43 million pounds, or 22.4 pence a share, from 2.03 million pounds, or 19.1 pence, the company said today. Revenue advanced 5.6 percent to 18.2 million pounds.
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