Pets at Home goes astray after major shareholder sells out

Pets at Home was in urgent need of some anaesthetic on Friday after its second largest shareholder put its stake in the retailer to sleep.

Canada Pension Plan Investment Board (CPPIB) sold its 10.8% stake for 148p per share — a 9% discount to Thursday’s closing price. The retailer, which sells pet food and accessories and runs vet practices, has been facing competition from non-specialists such as the big grocers and Amazon. It has been moving towards lower pricing and is also overhauling some of its unprofitable vet practices, but clearly not fast enough for CPPIB.

The other shareholders didn’t take the news well; shares slumped 13%, or 21.4p, to 141.8p, making it the second- highest faller on the FTSE 250 index. The fall could spark City chatter that the £720 million business is vulnerable to a takeover bid.

In contrast, shares in retailer Games Workshop, known for its table-top games with miniature soldiers, shot up after it said it expects to make more money. After a lacklustre set of results in January, the Warhammer maker is now back in the game. It forecasts pre-tax profits of £80 million for the year to June 2, up from £70 million. It also raised its dividend to 155p a share from 126p for the period to June 2018. Game was the highest FTSE 250 riser with the stock trading up 10%, or 342p, to 3652p.

Struggling fashion chain Bonmarché was in a combative mood, hitting out at retail tycoon Philip Day’s £5.7 million takeover bid. The over-50s retailer said Day’s 11.4p-a-share offer “undervalued” the chain, which warned on profits last month. It also said it has drawn up a plan to cut costs, most likely involving store closures or job cuts, and shareholders should back Bonmarché. Its shares rose 3.3%, or 0.5p, to 15.5p, valuing the business at £7.7 million. Day’s ambition is to take the chain private and delist the shares.

The owner of the Peppa Pig cartoons, Entertainment One, last night told the market it is coughing up £178 million to buy Audio Network, whose work was featured in popular TV shows like Killing Eve. This will be eOne’s largest acquisition in its near-five decade history. To fund the deal, it placed 28.9 million shares today to raise £130 million — 6% of its share capital — at a price of 450p. Shareholders didn’t seem pleased, with the stock down 2%, or 10.2p, to 467p.

The FTSE 250 was up 23.83 points to 19,645.01p, while the FTSE 100 gained 20.27 points to 7,438.22p.