Crystal Amber cuts JJB stake and takes profits
CRYSTAL Amber Fund, one of JJB Sports’ largest shareholders, yesterday said it had cut its stake from 14 per cent to just under eight per cent, ahead of the retailer’s £100m fundraising.
Crystal Amber made a 45.3 per cent profit on the sale of 13.6m shares that it bought when the stock was 22.4p a share. The fund sold the shares at 32.6p – netting it a tidy profit of around £1.2m.
The fund bought the stake in the embattled sportswear company on the day it brokered a lifeline agreement with its landlords.
Richard Bernstein, the fund’s investment adviser, said: “ We spotted the recovery potential of the group. We are committed to try and help JJB’s recovery.”
The fund yesterday said it would subscribe to 28.4m shares in JJB Sports’ proposed firm placing, which means JJB will still be the fund’s biggest investment.
Bernstein yesterday said Crystal Amber supported the attempts of beleaguered executive chairman Sir David Jones to turn the group around.
And Bernstein dismissed the recent smear campaign aimed at derailing JJB’s right issue as “just noise”. He added: “We don’t have much interest in stories about David Jones… We’re interested in JJB’s recovery.”
RICHARD BERNSTEIN
INVESTMENT ADVISER TO CRYSTAL AMBER
Bernstein qualified as a chartered accountant in 1989. Between 1994 and 1996 he ran his own specialist research house, Amber Analysis, which provided a risk management service for UK institutions managing over £100bn. From 1996 until 1999 he was an equity analyst at Schroders Securities. Bernstein is also a director and chief executive of Eurovestech, a pan-European development capital fund focused on high technology enterprises. Eurovestech has so far raised £1.5m in a series of share placing and gifted all of the proceeds to 80 different charities.
Bernstein currently has a one per cent stake in Crystal Amber.
He has also been a regular contributor to the mid-market financial press including The Express and Daily Mail.