Top UK Rolex Seller Surges After Report of Takeover Offers

(Bloomberg) — Watches of Switzerland Group Plc shares jumped after a report said Britain’s largest Rolex reseller held talks in recent months over offers to take it private.

The discussions were reported by Reuters, which did not name any of the interested suitors.

London-listed Watches of Switzerland is one of the world’s best-known sellers of luxury watches. It has a large presence in Europe and the US, and Rolex accounts for half the company’s sales.

Chief Executive Officer Brian Duffy engaged with the suitors but the company wants an offer of more than £7.50 ($10) a share, Reuters reported, citing people it didn’t identify.

The company declined to comment when contacted by Bloomberg. Under UK takeover rules, if there is market speculation around private discussions the suitor is obliged to make a public statement of its intentions.

Shares in Watches of Switzerland, which is due to publish full-year earnings on Tuesday, gained as much as 8.2%, the most in nearly two months. They were trading up 4.8% at around £7.54 at 2:36 p.m. in London.

Although Watches of Switzerland has weathered the luxury sector’s slowdown better than most, it plans to scrap a target set in late 2023 to more than double sales and profit by the end of 2028, Bloomberg reported last month.

Investors reacted negatively to Rolex’s purchase of Swiss brand Bucherer AG in August 2023, with analysts warning there was a risk it might start directing supply of its watches away from the UK company.

(Updates with latest shares, additional details starting in third paragraph.)

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