Spirent Communications Share Discussion Threads

[wall street trader] 18/3/2024 10:29

cheers for sharing

[willie99] 08/3/2024 15:38

Or the Market has heard that some big IIs will not support the acquisition at the proposed price. So, the bidder may need to increase their offer price to get the IIs onboard.

[erbullion] 08/3/2024 14:13

Other bidders in the wings?

[dplewis1] 08/3/2024 13:41

What's goin here then? 4p above bid price now..

[masurenguy] 06/3/2024 13:17

Spirent takeover deal has a feel of short-termism
The British tech firm is hardly selling up to its bigger US rival Viavi at a stock market high

Sometimes, even a 61.4% premium doesn’t look overly generous. Spirent has just become the latest mid-cap company to join the London market exodus — recommending a 175p-a-share cash takeover from America’s Viavi, worth just over £1bn. You can see why the board, chaired by Sir Bill Thomas, agreed to it. How could they not put that offer to shareholders, even if the premium isn’t quite as good as it looks? The price includes a 2½p special dividend investors were getting anyway. Yet, despite the shares leaping 63% to an above bid 177p, Spirent’s hardly selling up at a stock market high.

Rewind to January last year and the shares were topping 281p. The problem? Last year was one to forget for a group that tests, measures and and analyses kit for telecoms companies, cybersecurity outfits and, lately, the providers of cloud services. Telecoms makes up about 70% of Spirent’s sales, after some rocky trading updates, is last year’s figures: sales down a fifth to $474m, with adjusted operating profits falling 65% to $45.2m. Worse, the board expects a tricky telecoms sector “to last through 2024 and, potentially, into 2025”.

Spirent’s advisers Rothschild and UBS called the deal “fair and reasonable”. And the board’s decision has a logic of sorts. All the same, even after the group’s below consensus half-year figures last August, UBS analysts retained their 244p price target — not cutting to 169p until October. The take-out earnings multiple of 29 times is off 2023’s depressed profits.

Complete article:

US rival eyes Spirent for £1bn takeover
The FTSE 250 technology group has been offered an all-cash deal from Viavi Solutions

Spirent Communications has a takeover target as its board agreed to back a £1bn offer from an American rival. The FTSE 250 technology group said the all-cash offer from Viavi Solutions recognised the underlying value of the business and delivered an attractive outcome for investors. Viavi’s offer at 175p a share represents a 61% premium for the business, and prompted Spirent’s shares to jump by 63.3%, or 68½p, to 177p. Sir Bill Thomas, chairman of Spirent, said the “all-cash offer recognises the underlying value of Spirent”. Viavi is a telecoms business listed on the Nasdaq in New York,and its deal is partly funded with $400m in cash from Silver Lake, a US private equity firm. Spirent said that the combined group could deliver annual cost savings of up to $75m. The announcement said: “[Viavi] anticipates that cost synergies will be achieved through the elimination or reduction of functions and expenses which have historically been related to Spirent’s status as a listed company that will no longer be required due to Spirent ceasing to be a listed company.”

Graham Simpson, at Canaccord Genuity, said the offer was “at the bottom end” of any possible range of bids, and that Viavi was taking advantage of the profit warning issued by Spirent in October. “The offer is not particularly generous and strikes us as opportunistic given Spirent was trading at the 175p offer level 9 months ago, although that was before the October profits warning,” Simpson said.

Complete article:

[1knocker] 06/3/2024 13:10

I sold out at 176.7 this morning. With last year's dividends that was enough to get me out all square, inclusive of dealing costs, so it seemed a chance not to be missed.

I hope my sale prompts a bidding war, and those who are holding on get a bit more!

Signing off from the board now.
GLA.

[dplewis1] 06/3/2024 11:24

hTTps://www.sharesmagazine.co.uk/news/shares/spirent-buyout-another-nail-in-the-coffin-of-uk-growth

[chard1980] 05/3/2024 16:43

Bidding war please!!

[dplewis1] 05/3/2024 16:40

750k shares went through in the close 2p above the buyout price..?

[steeplejack] 05/3/2024 15:10

Interesting,because normally you'd expect a quote of 170p given time factors and there's no equity alternative to effect the price.

[dplewis1] 05/3/2024 14:54

Not sure, usually when a bid comes in the share price goes up to within a few pence of that. Viavi share price also up over 8% today so the market thinks it's a good combo

[paulisi] 05/3/2024 14:38

Counter offer?

[steeplejack] 05/3/2024 13:40

I've been in and out of this company since the Bowthorpe days in the 1980s.I'm surprised that such a low offer was accepted but I'm wondering whether the attraction of being part of a company listed on Nasdaq,didn't partially compensate.If you've seen your price slammed by some 75% because of a sluggish industry roll out of 5G and feel it necessary to stress you're not a one trick pony,you might just feel less than enamoured with the UK markets lack of appreciation.I'm sure that any number of US nasdaq listed companies in general (after recent strong stock gains) will be doing due diligence on Uk companies languishing in the doldrums.The feeling of investment disinterest must be such a disappointment to UK listed vehicles.

[dplewis1] 05/3/2024 13:35

I am holding off, gone above the bid price now

[reddirish] 05/3/2024 13:31

I have begun selling down, even though the market clearly expects a counter bid. But in this instance the bird in the hand ...

[1knocker] 05/3/2024 11:40

This looks like a done deal to me.

Well done those who have bought recently.

I sold out in 2019 at 205 with a cracking profit, and bought 20% back in March last year at 179, so i shall be very slightly down on that repurchase even after the 2 2023 dividends, and the proposed 2.5p final.

It is a toss up whether to sell now or wait. I shall probably wait, and sell only if and when I want the money fror some other investment. I hope I shall not live to regret waiting, but as I say it looks a done deal to me.

Spirent has been a very well run company, and in time the profits and share price should have recovered. It is a great shame that it should be taken over at what should be the bottom of its fortunes, though I note that the management seem pretty downbeat about the short term trading outlook.

The galling part is that I very nearly toped up at 108 only days ago, but decided to hold off in the hope of a tech pull back and a 100p price!

One must admire the tightness of the two ships though. The market seems not to have got any wind of this until the deal was announced.

[hamhamham1] 05/3/2024 10:43

Wall Street Trader.
This is my list of other potential take overs.
-AAF
-AGFX
-BT.A
-BRBY
-CPI
-CBG
-CMCX
-COST
-CRST
-DOCS
-EZJ
-FSJ
-FORT
-HFD
-JD.
-WG.
-MARS
-OTB
-PSN
-PZC
-RNK
-PEBB
-WOSG

I've checked CURY and SPT off my list and moved their profits around amongst the rest. (CMCX is also nearly off list, as 70% up so far)

[reddirish] 05/3/2024 10:24

Ref my post 2865, I hearby eat humble pie. Seriously disappointed by the low ball take over, and astounded that the board have accepted. They must have been offered some amazing sweeteners.

[hamhamham1] 05/3/2024 09:45

Sold out and reallocated, GLA.

[wall street trader] 05/3/2024 09:08

Question is what is the next one to be taken over - often this is a trend and certainly in the AI space will be lots of acquisitions and mergers

[tomboyb] 05/3/2024 09:08

Used to trade SPT 10-15 years ago -

Well done those who bought on lows -

[masurenguy] 05/3/2024 08:27

Having bought in here in several tranches during December, my average cost price was 118p. Just sold my entire position @172.9p to clear a 47% profit in just circa 12 weeks because the SoA can sometimes take a couple of months to be processed and there are other immediate opportunities for redeployment of funds. Just goes to show what a lottery the stock market can be - this proved to be a short term winner for me but equally I've also had a recent short term loser during the past 6 months. Ce la vie !

[dplewis1] 05/3/2024 08:26

Yes got to get through a few hoops yet, shareholder approval vote etc

[indiestu] 05/3/2024 08:21

There is not much chance of this first offer being accepted. The Directors only own 0.23% of Spirent shares. I can't imagine any major shareholders will take up the offer. It's more than likely that it will be referred to the takeover board.