News about Steve Oliver

This week, it was musicMagpie's turn to be the bargain when white goods group AO World plc offered just £10million for the business, which will see musicMagpie removed from AIM. AO World's offer represents a mere fraction of musicMagpie's £208million market capitalisation when it floated in 2021.

AO World will pay MusicMagpie investors about 9.1 pence for every share they hold, a 58 per cent premium to the firm's closing share price on Tuesday. The white goods retailer said MusicMagpie is a 'high-quality and leading operator' in the secondhand electronics sector, with a 'strong technology stack' and a 'deep and active customer base.'

MusicMagpie's shares increased sharply on Thursday after the company saw'record' sales during the Black Friday period. The company said full-year sales were expected to reach £136.6 million this year, down from £143.3 million last year, with consumer technology sales up 7.5 percent year on year in the second half. Gross margins increased to 27.7 percent from 26.2 percent as the company continued to concentrate on margin growth over revenue growth.

The Stockport-based business, which is known for providing secondhand electronics, said that talks were still in the early stages and that there was 'no certainty' of either party making an offer. Since going public on the London Stock Exchange two years ago, the firm's value has dropped by around 87 percent as loosening Covid-related restrictions and economic uncertainty has resulted in trade slowing down.

Despite the fact that its results increased sharply from February, the secondhand electronics reseller revealed that sales dropped to £62 million in the six months ending May from £71 million in the same period the previous year. Demand for disc media and books slowed for the long run, from £4.5 million to £20.8 million, but consumer technology sales dropped from £46 million to £41.2 million.