Four more UK companies attract bids or go bust

Approximately £3 billion of takeover activity today included a mid-cap stalwart with four decades of dividend progress and a former AIM high-flyer whose shares have risen six-fold.

Alongside proposed deals for Bodycote (LSE:BOY) and Gamma Communications (LSE:GAMA), the former FTSE 100-listed Capricorn Energy (LSE:CNE) backed an approach by Norway’s oldest oil and gas firm.

Today’s dealmaking continues 2026’s run of overseas-led activity, including the moves for blue-chips Schroders (LSE:SDR), Beazley (LSE:BEZ) and Intertek Group (LSE:ITRK) as well as FTSE 250 stocks Tate & Lyle (LSE:TATE) and easyJet (LSE:EZJ).

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The potential exit of three more firms came as Headlam Group (LSE:HEAD), which traces its history on the London Stock Exchange to 1948, announced its intention to appoint administrators.

And with only one listing worth £100 million so far this year, there are still few signs that the flow of companies heading for the exit will soon be offset by new arrivals.

City firm Peel Hunt noted in early July that there had been more than 150 bids worth £100 million or more since the start of 2023, with a combined value of £165 billion.

Over the same period, there had been just 11 initial public offerings (IPOs) of companies with a market cap of more than £100 million, representing an overall value of £6 billion.

It added at the time: “To say that the UK has a problem in retaining its companies and listing new ones would be a massive understatement in our view.”

The biggest deal of today’s session involved Bodycote after directors of the heat treatment and specialist thermal processing firm backed a £1.65 billion proposal by New York-based private equity firm Veritas Capital.

Veritas’ aerospace and defence portfolio has included Chromalloy, StandardAero and Frontgrade Technologies. Bodycote has been stock-market listed since 1972 and boasts a 38-year track record of growing or maintaining its dividend.

Today’s swoop, which comprised 932.8p a share plus July’s 7.2p interim dividend, improves on earlier approaches involving Apollo and CVC in a takeover period that began in May.

The cash element of the Veritas move is a 36.5% premium to the undisturbed average price of 683.4p and compares with 460p in April 2025. The shares today rose beyond the offer price to 951p as CVC said it was considering its options in light of the Veritas move.

On 6 August, City firm Berenberg highlighted a price target of 900p after accounting for Bodycote’s recent strategic progress, footprint rationalisation and medium-term targets.

It also noted a “blue-sky” valuation of more than 1,000p based on Bodycote’s structural growth potential within longer cycle markets in civil aero and industrial gas turbines.

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Meanwhile, Gamma Communications has been valued at just over £1 billion after the provider of business-critical communication technology backed an approach by private equity firm Epiris.

Shareholders will be entitled to receive 1,120p a share, representing a 53% premium to April’s last trading day prior to the commencement of an offer period.

The company listed in 2014 at a price of 187p and became one of the most valuable stocks on AIM before switching to the main market and the FTSE 250 index in 2025.

However, the shares fell towards 700p in late March as SME headwinds in a challenging UK economy offset strategic progress through a major acquisition in Germany.

Deutsche Bank said at the time that a “panicky” equity market’s reaction to full-year results and guidance ignored Gamma’s good prospects beyond the next few months as it highlighted a price target of 1,400p.

Gamma chair Martin Hellawell said today: “The board remains confident in the company’s strategy and long-term prospects. The board has nevertheless concluded that the acquisition provides Gamma shareholders with attractive and certain value in cash.”

The move for Edinburgh-based Capricorn Energy has been made by DNO, which was founded in 1971 and is Norway’s oldest oil and gas exploration and production company. Its portfolio of upstream assets spans the North Sea and the Kurdistan region of Iraq.

The sterling equivalent value of the recommended deal is £292 million, or 384p a share, which is a 45% premium to the undisturbed price of 266p on 10 March and about $36 million more than a previous deal agreed with UK-listed Genel Energy.

Capricorn was worth £25 million when it listed in 1988 under the name Cairn Energy. It went on to deliver huge returns for shareholders after its Rajasthan project became the largest onshore discovery in India for more than 25 years.

Cairn joined the FTSE 100 index in 2004 and eventually lost its blue-chip status in 2012, having returned $4.5 billion (£3.6 billion) to shareholders in the period since 2006.

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It later made the largest global offshore discovery of 2014 in Senegal, and participated in the development of two of the largest projects in the UK North Sea, Catcher and Kraken, which began production in 2017.

Capricorn is now a cash flow-focused energy producer, with a portfolio of development and production assets in the Egyptian Western Desert.

Meanwhile, the shares of floor coverings distributor Headlam have been suspended after the board said it had run out of time to implement a turnaround plan.

Poor trading conditions have impacted the Coleshill-based company’s recent performance, as well as poor inventory availability on core product lines, competitor dynamics and the unseasonably warm weather.

Headlam pursued a range of options to address the group’s liquidity position, including refinancing, asset disposals and other strategic alternatives.

It said today: “The board has worked hard over an extended period to explore and evaluate multiple potential solutions, resulting in the preparation of a comprehensive transformation plan.

“Unfortunately, against a market backdrop that continues to be challenging, the board has been unable to execute on that plan in time.” Financial advisory firm Interpath is set to be appointed as administrator.

Headlam was involved in the footwear and fabrics markets when it joined the London stock market as Headlam, Sims & Coggins in 1948.

In 1989, the company changed its name to Headlam Group and three years later made its first acquisitions within floor coverings distribution. It was valued at £550 million in 2017, when shares were near to an all-time high of 650p.