Carpetright US$1.7bn buy-out still going ahead

Lord Harris said his £850m (US$1.7bn) buy-out of Carpetright is still going ahead, despite it being two months since the deal was announced.

He added that he is aiming to get the deal done by early January.

However, stock market investors are concerned that the financing has run into problems with the share price at just under £11.00, compared with his £12.50 a share offer.

Lord Harris claimed that raising the money was not an issue and the management was still in the process of carrying out due diligence. He added that he doesn’t intend to change the buy-out price and that the group was in a solid position..

In its interim results, Capetright showed an underlying profit of £27.2m, compared £26m previously and a pretax profit of £28.1m, compared £27.7m in the 26 weeks to October 27. Meanwhile, sales advanced 10% from £228.4m to £251m.