Companies: JQV   

The board of Jacques Vert has tied up the last loose end from the William Baird acquisition of 2002. It has come to a deal with the trustee of the Baird pension scheme, which had a deficit of £35 million at June 30, dwarfing Jacques Vert’s own market capitalisation of around £28 million.

Under the terms of new agreement, Jacques Vert is winding up the existing scheme, but making an immediate £2.5 million payment into it with a further £2.5 million due to be paid in January 2007. It is also granting the scheme a phantom share option over 10 million shares at a strike price of 14.75p. The company will pay out any gain from the exercise of that option in cash, subject to a maximum of £1 million a year. It would not be surprising to see Jacques Vert raise new cash to help fund these payments via a placing at some stage.

The market responded positively to news that the pension overhang has now been eliminated. The shares currently trade at 16p, which compares with a recommendation level here a month ago of 13.75p. Continue to hold ahead of the forthcoming figures.

Jacques Vert	AIM	£7.93m	4.12p	-0.25p
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Other company articles:
Jacques Vert			08/05/2008
Jacques Vert clean-up complete			12/01/2007
Jacques Vert directors buy more			25/08/2006
Jacques Vert up on Baird pension deal			07/07/2006
Jacques Vert to defy the bears			09/06/2006