H&H Group acquired John Swan & Sons for £8.2M; shares soar by 15%

John Swan & Sons' shares went up by 15 percent prior to H&H Group's £8.2m acquisition, about 1,350p per share of the livestock business.

The livestock farming services based in Newtown St Boswells rise 15 % of its shares since H&H Group announced that it was purchasing the Scottish firm for £8.2million cash, as reported in the Daily Mail.

By December last year, the Regulatory News Service of London Stock Exchange publicized that H&H, the Carlisle-based auctioneer, had already made a possible offer of £13.50 per John Swan ordinary share.

They had also proposed an alternative of 0.574 unlisted H&H shares for each John Swan share up to an upper limit of 217,593 as an option.

According to the Herald Scotland, H&H Chairman Michael Cowen, is very pleased that they are acquiring John Swan and expand its livestock marketing interests.

"The John Swan business has an excellent geographical fit and will strengthen considerably our position in Scotland. Both companies have a long heritage and benefit from a loyal customer base, which we hope to build on." Cowen stated.

H&H has plans to expand on real estate, insurance dealing and auctions. Chairman Cowen said, "We will also look to introduce our land agency and insurance businesses, which have a strong rural connection, into John Swan's market area to develop new income streams for the business and provide the same services to John Swan customers that H&H customers have found beneficial."

John Swan & Sons is a livestock hub at Newtown St Boswells Village in Scotland and Northumberland, England. The business was founded in 1856.

John Swan and Sons expanded on Mart operations in Perth, Fife, East Lothian and Edinburgh until 1900's. After that, the business focused on its key Mart at Newtown St Boswells and Edinburgh.

The Edinburgh Mart was affected by foot and mouth disease and was closed in 2001. In 2002, the business bought the Wooler Mart in Northumberland.

At this time, the Newtown St Boswells and the Wooler Mart are two of the most excellent in Europe.

With the merging of two companies, H&H intends to focus on growing John Swan's market share in Scotland and Northumberland, not only with auctions, but with farming services through the aid of the advance technology.