Rules spoil private machinations

Stock market rules can be an awful nuisance when all you have ever been used to is making private acquisitions. It must be an awful chore to have to tell the world how much you are paying for a company when all you have ever done before is issue bland statements announcing an acquisition and saying little else of substance.

So it was for Glen Dimplex last week when it had to go through the hoops for the stock exchange with its agreed bid for the Stoves Group.

Giving out all the financial information showed exactly what awaits Glen Dimplex when it takes control of Stoves. Quite frankly, Stoves is a company that will badly need the Glen Dimplex treatment to be turned around, let alone give Glen Dimplex a decent return on its investment.

Glen Dimplex may have to repeat the whole full disclosure process if its goes ahead with a bid for Kenwood.

That seems pretty likely - why else would Glen Dimplex slowly build up a 10 per cent stake in Kenwood Appliances? Certainly not a pure investment, Kenwood is another company that could benefit from some of Dimplex's attention.

So expect a bid.