Good morning, folks.

Apparently, there has been a technical fault with the company announcements RNS feed this morning. Let's hope they fix it soon!

8:45 AM update: there was a large release of announcements at 8:25, so I'm going to assume the backlog has been cleared. Some companies reporting which we follow here include Keywords Studios (LON:KWS), French Connection (LON:FCCN) and Hollywood Bowl (LON:BOWL).

Was anybody caught out by disorderly trading in shares whose news was delayed? There is a risk that some shareholders might have been disadvantaged by the delayed release, to them, of important information.

As an aside - I remain in favour of the US system, where news is announced after the market closes in the late afternoon/early evening. I can't see any downsides to doing it that way!



Conviviality (LON:CVR) (suspended)

A quick post-script on Conviviality, and the final outcome for its two divisions ("Direct" and "Retail").

The news has been positive for employees, customers and suppliers, as a series of deals are likely to have saved many jobs and will lead to the continuation of most of the group's activities, under new owners.

C&C (LON:CCR) (owner of Magners/Bulmers, Tennent's, and other drinks brands), with the support of the giant brewing company AB Inbev, has bought Conviviality Direct, including Matthew Clark and Bibendum.

Bestway, one of the UK's biggest food and drinks wholesalers, has picked up "the business and assets" of Conviviality Retail, but the sale proceeds won't be sufficient to pay off creditors:

It is with regret that the Board notes that the companies are not expected to have sufficient assets to satisfy all their liabilities.

PricewaterhouseCoopers will be in contact with creditors of Wine Rack Limited, Bargain Booze Limited and Conviviality Retail Logistics Limited.  The Board also understand that the realisations will be insufficient to provide any return to shareholders.

The new owners are likely to have a more sober view (pun intended) of the true worth of Matthew Clark, Bibendum, Bargain Booze, Wine Rack, etc,, compared to Conviviality.

I hope that none of our readers were too heavily invested in CVR. The story continues now with…

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