Cracking results | Questionable shareholder value
News covered here include cracking results from a highly-rated provider of infection prevention products, which has a big growth opportunity in the biggest market of all. Elsewhere, we are less impressed with claims from the management of another AIM company. Read on here for our usual forthright opinion this and other news. (Premium)
Marlowe: has significant value really been created? Shares in Marlowe (AIM:MRL) rose 31% last week after it announced the sale of some of its software assets to Inflexion Private Equity for £430m. The assets covered its governance, risk and compliance software and services and accounted for 40% of Marlow’s ‘heavily adjusted’ pre-tax earnings. The £430m proceeds represented 121% of Marlowe's market capitalisation at the time, with the proceeds set to be used to pay off debt and return £150m+ of excess cash to shareholders. Chief Executive Alex Dacre, the architect of Marlowe’s seemingly manic buy and build strategy will move…