McColl's warns short-term funding unlikely to benefit shares, slumps 42% (updated)

MccollS Retail

25/04/2022 08:54

(Adds details, background, and share move)
    April 25 (Reuters) - McColl's  MCLSM.L  warned on Monday it
was increasingly unlikely that its ordinary shares would benefit
from a potential financing that might help resolve its
short-term funding issues, sending shares of the British
convenience store chain down 42%.
    The cash-strapped firm, which is still in talks with lenders
and banks to secure more funding, forecast tepid annual core
profit due to lower consumer spending and supply snags. 
    British retailers are battling a series of challenges,
including a cost-of-living squeeze, supply snags, higher costs,
and inflation hitting its highest levels since 1992. 
 urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL5N2WB138 urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL4N2S81T3   
    The company said it does not expect its annual adjusted core
profit to exceed last year's 20 million pounds ($25.47 million).
    London-listed McColl's expects to delay the publication of
its full-year results until the financing talks are resolved.
    Its convenience store partner Morrisons said last month it
is considering options to deal with the financial struggles of
McColl's, according to a Sky News report.  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL3N2VP3RB
    The company, which operates more than 1,100 convenience
stores, said it was in talks with its wholesale partners to
mitigate the product availability issues as shortages of its key
products intensified last year.    
      
    ($1 = 0.7852 pounds)

 (Reporting by Sinchita Mitra in Bengaluru; Editing by Sherry
Jacob-Phillips)
 ((Sinchita.Mitra@thomsonreuters.com;))