ISG stands firm against Cathexis offer

ISG said fewer than 2% of shareholders had accepted the 143p-a-share takeover offer from shareholder Cathexis UK Holdings and that, with trading having remained stable, it continued to recommend rejecting the offer.

The office fit-out group said trading had continued in line with management expectations and that results for the year to 30 June 2016 were still in line with expectations.

The pre-order book as at 31 December 2015 was stable at £1.1bn and that it reaffirmed its intention to pay an interim dividend.

Although trading in the UK fit out and engineering services arms has outperformed the board's expectations, the costs to close out legacy contracts in UK Construction are expected to offset this gain.

"Progress on the turnaround plan for UK construction continues," ISG added, with all but three of the 360 or so contracts entered into during the troublesome period between 2011 and 2013 now complete.

ISG received the offer from 29% shareholder Cathexis on 11 December, with its shares having fallen from above 350p to140p during the year.

Cathexis is a Houston-based family office that has been an investor in the company since 2012 and contributed £10.5m to a March 2015 fundraising.