Finsbury Foods announces potential takeover

In an announcement to the London Stock Exchange, the maker of, among others, Memory Lane Cakes, said the preliminary approach was exploratory in nature and its directors believed there was considerable doubt that an offer would be “forthcoming from this party”. A further announcement would be made in due course, as appropriate. Shares in Finsbury Food had crumbled after a recent profits warning. But a report on the Motley Fool investment website last week suggested that “this is a company that ticks many investment boxes”. Tipping the shares as a potential buy, the site went on: “…in thirty-odd years spent working in and writing about manufacturing companies, I can see that Finsbury ticks a lot of the checklist boxes that I've come to develop over that time. The business model makes sense, and the management team appear grounded and well-versed in their industry.” Finsbury’s shares slumped from 116 pence in mid-2007 to just 18 pence today, which meant that it was underperforming the market, by around 50%, Motley Fool said on Wednesday.