Menzies Aviation rejects Kuwaiti rival's £470m takeover bid

The business will now focus solely on aviation services

Ground services company Menzies Aviation has rejected a £470m takeover proposal from a Kuwait-based rival.

The Edinburgh-based company works with airlines and airports in 37 countries.

It said the offer from National Aviation Services was the second unsolicited approach and was "highly opportunistic".

A statement responding to a rise in the offer price from £423m, said the takeover attempt did not take account of the firm's post-pandemic recovery.

It also highlighted measures taken by Menzies management to cut costs and become more efficient.

It claims to be on course for £80m of additional annual revenue, with more in the medium term.

The company cut more than 17,500 jobs worldwide in March 2020 because of the downturn in air travel due to the pandemic.

National Aviation Services is a subsidiary of the Kuwait-based logistics conglomerate Agility.

'Continued global recovery'

Philipp Joeinig, John Menzies' chairman and chief executive, said: "The board has unanimously rejected this unsolicited and highly opportunistic proposal, which we believe does not reflect Menzies' true intrinsic business worth or its prospects.

"Menzies continues to make good progress with strong performance across a number of service lines, which together with productivity gains, saw the group to finish last year strongly.

"This strong performance and momentum in 2021 has continued in 2022 with further contract wins and renewals alongside the continued recovery of global flight volumes."

John Menzies was founded in 1833. It grew as a bookseller and one of Britain's biggest newspaper distributors, expanding into air freight from 1987.

In 2018, it sold off the distribution business to focus on aviation services.

It now has 25,000 employees in 37 countries, providing passenger, baggage and aircraft handling services.