Shares in Bonhill Group PLC (LSE:BONH) tanked 29% in the wake of its prelims and as the chairman lamented the events and publishing business’ failed American foray.
“As a group, Bonhill has struggled to bounce back in a post-Covid world,” said Jonathan Glasspool in commentary accompanying the results.
“The purchase of Investment News in July 2018 was, with hindsight, a disastrous time for a small UK B2B publisher to be spending $27 million of shareholders' money on a US company with a significant percentage of its income from events.
“The US media market has proven to be the graveyard for many a UK media company assuming that success in the UK can be repeated in the ruthlessly competitive US market. Bonhill proved that it was no exception to this rule.”
The company has clawed back or is in the process of clawing back around half the figure cited by the chairman via asset sales.
This will then be followed by a tender offer for shares at 10p each that will return around $6 million, or £4.8 million.
The stock is currently changing hands for 4.24p, down 1.76p.