Sagentia (AIM: SAG) change of direction?
The Trading Update from Sagentia at the end of January included news of a substantial return of cash to shareholders. In the Trading Update the science and technology group announced that it planned to return approximately £10 million, probably by via a tender offer.
Sagentia has been looking to expand its business for some years. In 2010 the Group raised £8 million in a placing at 40 pence per share. These funds were said to be to expand the scale of Sagentia by acquisitions. In fact, although the have been some minor purchases, much of Sagentia’s spare cash of late has been used to purchase its own shares. The January Trading Update confirmed that the Group has not been able to find suitable acquisitions of late: “While the Board has evaluated a number of potential acquisition opportunities of varying scale during the past year,…