04 December 2015

POLESTAR CALLS IN DELOITTE TO ADVISE

Polestar has brought in Deloitte to advise on a new financial structure for the group in the face of downgraded forecasts for the performance of the business

Earlier this year Polestar refinanced with a new credit facilities from Barclays and a £90m loan from Swedish Finance hosue Poventus Capital Partners.. In October owner Sun Capital injected £10m into the business via new equity.

At the time chief executive Barry Hibbert said the £216.4m turnover firm’s financial performance was on track with expectations. Its most recent financial year ended on 30 September, but those results are not yet filed. 

Payments to some existing creditors are being deferred until the New Year.

Hibbert told PrintWeek that the company and its stakeholders were considering the best options for the group’s debt and equity structure “in a falling market”.

“Deloitte are our bank advisors and they are now working on a significant project for the board. We are quite advanced with a revised equity/debt structure we hope to complete in the next few weeks,” he said.

“We have recently downgraded our forecasts as demand in newspapers is down over 20% in two years, and weekly magazines are forecasting continuing decline for at least the next few years.

“On top of this prices in gravure commercial work across Europe have been falling all year driven by the exchange rate, falling demand and overcapacity,” he stated.