Outdoor adventure gear retailer, Kathmandu, has reiterated its advice to shareholders to take no action on Briscoe Group’s takeover offer.

Since launching its takeover bid, Briscoe has only picked up 2.3 per cent of 80.1 per cent of Kathmandu shares it didn’t already own. Briscoe’s shareholding in Kathmandu is now 22.17 per cent.

Briscoe has declined to increase the offer price or extend the offer date beyond September 17.

In its first half results released yesterday, Briscoe stated that unless there is a very high level of acceptances ahead of the closing date, the offer will lapse.

Kathmandu said its directors continued to believe that the offer is inadequate and does not reflect the underlying value of the company.

Briscoe managing director, Rod Duke, said, “We are obviously disappointed in the low acceptance level in response to our offer. This suggests to us that Kathmandu shareholders are expecting the company to reverse the negative trends in its operating and financial performance of recent years, and to deliver greater value increases than they would obtain from a merger of the two companies.”

Duke said as the largest shareholder in Kathmandu, Briscoe would like its performance to improve and for the value its Kathmandu shareholding to rise, but believes there is little chance of a turnaround. He also stated that Kathmandu’s forecasts are “unrealistically optimistic.”

Briscoe is still urging Kathmandu shareholders to lodge their acceptances on or before 17 September.

“We still believe that a merger of Briscoe Group and Kathmandu could be structured to be a significant win-win for both companies’ shareholders, and are open to the idea of progressing a merger at some stage in the future regardless of whether our current takeover offer succeeds,” Duke said.