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Cannons and Holmes Place discuss £200m merger
Holmes Place has confirmed that its management team supports takeover proposals by rival health club operator, Cannons Group and that it has decided to pursue a merger.
A spokesperson for Cannons said it expected to be lodging a 200p-a-share offer within the next four to six weeks - which would value Holmes Place at over £200m.
Andrew Dowler, board director of Financial Dynamics which is working on the bid, said: 'We are currently going through due diligence before finalising our bid, but Holmes Place has agreed exclusivity with us, provided we make an offer within the agreed time period.'
Once a formal bid is made, Holmes Place will have 90 days in which to respond.
Cannons claimed that it was too early to say whether, if its bid was successful, the Holmes place clubs would remain a separate brand, or be converted to the Cannons concept.
In its interim results for the six months to 30 June, published on 4 September, Holmes Place announced that turnover was up 28 per cent to £73.1m and operating profit up 23 per cent to £10.2m.
Chair, Graham Reddish, said: 'Our club opening programme is on track, we have secured excellent locations in the UK and continental Europe and have sufficient funding in place for our stated expansion programme.'