Blue Oar tells shareholders to ignore bid

Stockbroker Blue Oar today repeated its condemnation of the takeover bid from former directors, and urged shareholders to ignore it.

The broker said its current directors - chief executive Andrew Monk, Mark Brumby and Peter Joy - would not be using their shares to accept the offer despite it being declared unconditional on Christmas Eve.

Meanwhile, chairman Gavin Casey, who today said he was leaving the group, added that he also planned not to accept the bid. The former directors have 50.5% of the shares voted in favour of their bid. The bid team, calling itself Evolve, needs 75% approval.