Shares in property outsourcing group Mapeley sunk again this week on fears that a takeover by its part-owner may not proceed as planned.
Mapeley’s share price fell 11% after it posted full-year results that revealed a 23% drop in net asset value.
The group also posted an ambiguous statement which said there could be no certainty to the outcome of talks surrounding a recent bid approach, believed to be from 50% stakeholder Fortress.
While the group’s revenue climbed 8.4% to £417.4m for the year to end December, the resulting valuation deficit saw the group post a pretax loss of £129m against a £42.8m pretax profit for the previous year.
Mapeley’s net asset value per share fell to £18.62 from £24.23 for the period. Funds from operations – the group’s preferred method of tracking its operating success – were up by 23.4% to £56.4m for the year.
The group also completed a last-minute refinancing of a £257m loan that was expiring in April, replacing it with a £152m seven-year loan and a separate £60m facility maturing in April 2009. Mapeley did not reveal the lender, but it is understood to be Royal Bank of Scotland.
Chief executive Jamie Hopkins said: “With regard to new acquisitions, we are continually reappraising new opportunities and sources of capital to drive growth.”
“We will also continue to build our database of assets, and have a strong pipeline of acquisition opportunities to exploit.”
Mapeley’s share price lost almost three-quarters of its value last year, falling from a high of 4100 to trade around 1210 near the year end. The shares were trading at around 1,600p on Tuesday.
