04-07-2025
This high street giant is leading the fight against foreign raiders
Britain has long been crying out for a corporate chief with the courage to fly the flag for independence when an opportunistic foreign raider swoops in.
The overwhelming tendency of the vast majority of PLC boards is to wave a white flag the minute a takeover attempt lands. Hiding behind feeble claims that they have a 'fiduciary duty' to recommend any offer pitched at a mild premium, these handsomely paid custodians of Britain's brightest and best companies nearly always take the money and run.
Presented with a rare opportunity to cash in shares and stock options – often running into the many millions of pounds – that might take years to vest, pure greed all too often quickly takes over.
The hollowing out of the stock market is undoubtedly a bona fide national crisis, and the reasons for it are many. But if the UK wasn't possessed with a bizarre predilection for allowing overseas predators and private equity barons to pick off the jewels of British business at will, not to mention nearly always on the cheap, the problem wouldn't be nearly so pronounced.
It is the elephant in the room that nobody in power seems remotely prepared to even acknowledge, never mind tackle, for fear of being branded anti-foreign investment. Yet the idea that this long-standing habit is even remotely in the national interest really is one of the great lies of our time.
Three cheers then for Alex Baldock, boss of electricals chain Currys, for demonstrating that there is a genuine alternative to all those lily-livered surrender monkeys out there, which is, of course, to have faith in your standalone prospects and to send the vultures packing.
In fact, Baldock has done it with such aplomb that it should really pave the way for a bold new era in which corporate Britain is prepared to stand up and fight for its future.
After spurning not one but two takeover attempts from activist investor Elliott just last year, Currys is riding high. Share prices often crash when suitors walk away, but not at this high street giant. Having slumped to an all-time low of just 43p in late 2023, its shares are currently trading at a three and half-year high of 126p. What's more, that's more than double the 67p-a-share that Elliott was dangling in front of the Currys board as a final offer.
This is money in the pockets of shareholders, many of them pension funds managing the retirement savings of people up and down the country, not to mention staff whose hard work behind the tills and in the aisles has helped to drive its impressive revival. More than 30,000 Currys employees have been awarded stock through the company's 'colleague shareholder scheme' since it was introduced in 2019.
It's a stark reminder of what can be achieved in a relatively short period of time by managers who are prepared to take risks. Annual profits are up 37pc to £162m, beating expectations again, despite raising targets three times this year. The chain is also sitting on a hefty cash pile of nearly £200m – a sharp turnaround for an outfit that not too long ago looked to be carrying too much debt. 'The balance sheet has not been this strong in a decade,' analysts at Panmure Liberum said.
