Angling Direct in talks about possible acquisition of Chapmans Angling

In a statement in response to recent speculation, the AIM-listed company said there can be no certainty that a transaction will be concluded and a further announcement, as appropriate, will be made in due course.

In a pre-close trading update earlier this week, Angling Direct said it expected to report a 38.9% jump in revenue for the year to the end of January 2019 to £42m as it continues to grow sales both in-store and online.

It said in-store sales were up 50% to £19.74m and 6.2% higher on a like-for-like basis.

At 1320 GMT, the shares were down 1.5% to 67.99p.