John Wood Group shares plummeted on Monday after US private equity group Apollo said they were halting their pursual of the London-listed energy consulting, engineering, and solutions company.
John Wood Group shares were down over 34% at the time of writing.
Apollo had made a revised 240p cash offer for Wood Group in April – an increase on a prior 230p offer. In February, Wood Group announced they had received three unsolicited bids from Apollo. Wood Group said the initial offers “significantly undervalued the repositioned Group’s prospects.”
Wood Group shares are now lower than their first response to takeover speculation in February.
FTSE 250 constituent Wood Group issued a response to Apollo’s withdrawal and attempted to shift attention to progress in the business:
“The Board remains confident in Wood’s strategic direction and long-term prospects and believes that, following a transformative year in 2022, including new executive leadership and a new strategy, Wood is well placed to deliver substantial value for shareholders.
“Our medium-term targets set out in November 2022 are to deliver adjusted EBITDA growth at mid to high single digit CAGR, with momentum building over time, and to return to positive free cash flow in 2024.
“Furthermore, as set out in the Q1 trading update on 11 May 2023, there is good momentum across all business units which has continued since the end of Q1, with expectations for the full year unchanged.”
