If you’d invested in: Darty and Flybe

European electrical goods retailer Darty was on the receiving end of a bidding war that saw its share price soar.

Ben Judge
By
published
in Features

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European electrical goods retailer Darty (LSE: DRTY) operates mainly in France (it is headquartered in London) and in November last year French retailer Fnac put in a bid for the company. Then South Africa's Steinhoff International joined the fray, leading to a bidding war.

That drove the share price up by more than 140% in the last year. The Darty board has recommended that shareholders accept Fnac's offer.

Be glad you didn't buy...

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Flybe (LSE: FLYB), Britain's third-largest airline, is based in Exeter and flies between the UK's regional airports and Europe. Times have been tough in recent years. It is now in the second year of a three-year restructuring plan, and aims to consolidate its position in the UK while expanding "cautiously" into Europe.

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The financial year 2015/2016 saw passenger numbers and revenue rise, and the airline returned a pre-tax profit of £5.5m. But that hasn't stopped the share-price slide. In the last year, it's fallen by more than 50%.

Ben Judge
Ben Judge

Ben studied modern languages at London University's Queen Mary College. After dabbling unhappily in local government finance for a while, he went to work for The Scotsman newspaper in Edinburgh. The launch of the paper's website, scotsman.com, in the early years of the dotcom craze, saw Ben move online to manage the Business and Motors channels before becoming deputy editor with responsibility for all aspects of online production for The Scotsman, Scotland on Sunday and the Edinburgh Evening News websites, along with the papers' Edinburgh Festivals website.

Ben joined MoneyWeek as website editor in 2008, just as the Great Financial Crisis was brewing. He has written extensively for the website and magazine, with a particular emphasis on alternative finance and fintech, including blockchain and bitcoin. 

As an early adopter of bitcoin, Ben bought when the price was under $200, but went on to spend it all on foolish fripperies.

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