Record for Morse after £70m bid from Duke Street unit
IT consultant Morse today accepted a £70 million takeover bid which values the company at 51p a share — twice the amount it was offered in an approach last July.
The successful bidder is 2e2, a rival IT consultancy, which is majority owned by private equity firm Duke Street Capital.
Morse is a classic tale of the highs and lows of the UK IT industry. At the peak of the dotcom bubble in early 2001 shares in the firm which operates principally in the UK, USA, Asia, Spain and Ireland hit a high of nearly 600p.
But a series of profit warnings and unwinding various deals left the company a shadow of its former self.
It has been rebuilt over the past 18 months under chief executive Mike Phillips and veteran technology boss chairman Kevin Loosemore.
Today Loosemore said: "This is an attractive offer for shareholders as it recognises the continued prospects for growth in profitability whilst enabling Morse shareholders to realise their investment in full."
Today's bid, which was signalled by Morse on Friday, is at a 32% premium to the company's average share price over the past six months.
2e2 said that the groups had combined revenues of £414 million and headline earnings of £40 million in 2009. The bid has already received the backing of 54% of Morse's shareholders.
