Hotel and coach holiday operator Shearings has pulled out of its planned £100m flotation on the Alternative Investment Market (AIM) because it could not achieve an acceptable value.
The group, which owns 36 hotels in UK holiday resorts catering for the over-55s, made its application to launch an initial public offering (IPO) on AIM earlier this month.
Chief executive John Slatcher said: "In keeping with the experience of others in recent weeks, we have found that institutions remain extremely cautious with respect to the IPO market and as a result we have been unable to achieve the flotation at a valuation that was acceptable to Shearings’ existing shareholders.”
In October 2001 poor market conditions forced Shearings to abandon its search for a buyer a month after it put itself on the market for an estimated £30m.
Slatcher then blamed the trauma created in the stock market and tourism sector by the 11 September terror attacks on the USA.
by Angela Frewin
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