Jessops Plc officially delisted from the London Stock Exchange last week as shareholders voted to wind up the company after the core store business was sold to new company Snap Equity in September.
Snap Equity’s assets - the Jessops stores business - will remain unaffected. Snap Equity is 47% owned by HSBC and 33% owned by pension trustees, with the remaining 20% held by an employee trust.
Jessops warned the market last May that it did not expect to deliver any value to shareholders, and management had been clear about the decision to delist from the stock exchange. However, investors continued to buy Jessops shares, which were trading at 0.41p on Monday and 0.38p on Tuesday, when 6.5 million shares changed hands.
A restructuring plan is under way at the retailer, under chief executive Trevor Moore and chairman David Adams.
As part of the deal with HSBC last year, the bank forgave £34m of debt owed by Jessops Plc, but shareholders were left with just £100,000 to be split between them.
In September Jessops said it was laden with debt and that its only alternative to insolvency was the debt for equity swap.
Jessops has more than 200 stores.
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