MBO team cuts offer for Oglesby

The executives planning to buy out listed manufacturing company Oglesby and Butler yesterday said they were likely to cut their indicative offer by 20 per cent to 32 cent after the group posted a poor set of results for the year to the end of March.

The tool manufacturer said it made a pre-tax loss of €115,000 in the period compared to a profit of €238,000 in 2003. Turnover was down 24 per cent to €4.9 million from €5.55 million. Losses per share were 0.76 cent, compared to a gain of 2.14 cent last year.

The group blamed the weakness of the dollar and sterling and tighter margins for the fall in profitability. However, it pointed out that new blow torch and glue gun lines introduced during the year had been well-received, which highlighted the need to continue to invest in new products.

The Carlow-based company has been cutting jobs this year, and a statement yesterday indicated that this and other cost-saving measures should have a positive impact over the next 12 months.

After the results announcement yesterday afternoon, executive directors Mr AP Oglesby and Mr JP Oglesby issued a statement saying they were reducing the indicative offer made for the company last October. The two men, who together own 42 per cent of the business, approached the company last year and indicated that they would pay 40 cents a share to take it private.

However, yesterday, their statement said that after reviewing the position with their advisers, they were "not in a position to make an offer at a price above the last dealt price of €0.32 per share and they have sought more time to finalise their proposal".