Curry’s (LON:CURY) share price has held quite steady recently even as the troubled company has become an acquisition target. The stock ended the week at 47.50p, where it has been stuck at in the past few days. It remains about 42% below its highest point in 2023 and 66% below its all-time high.
An acquisition target
Curry’s has made headlines in the past few weeks, raising the prospects that it could become a victim of a bidding war. Just last week, the retailer said that it had rejected an acquisition bid from Elliot Management, one of the top hedge funds in the market.
Now, China’s JD.com is said to be in talks to acquire the company. This is a notable thing since Jd.com is one of the biggest Chinese companies. It also has unlimited resources with over $30 billion in cash and short-term investments, meaning that it can afford to pay a premium.
The most likely scenario is where a bidding war emerges to take the company private. Besides, Izzy Englander of Millenium is one of the most feared and powerful people in the financial services industry. It is one of the top hedge funds with over $62 billion in assets.
JD.com and other Chinese companies are considering having a footprint in other markets as competition at home rises. PDD Holdings has created Temu, an e-commerce company known for selling a variety of cheap products.
Most recently, Shein acquired Missguided from Frasers Group (LON:FRAS) as it seeks to gain market share in the industry.
A buyout would be the best outcome for Curry’s, a company that has not been doing well recently. In its most recent statement, the company said that its group like-for-like sales dropped by 4%. It also expects that its profit before tax will be between 105 million and 115 million pounds, respectively.
Curry’s share price forecast
Turning to the weekly chart, we see that the stock has been in a strong sell-off in the past few months. It has crashed from 146.7p in 2021 to about 47p. Most recently, the shares have formed a descending channel that is shown in purple. It remains below the 50-week and 25-week moving averages.
Therefore, the outlook for the stock is mildly bullish as the odds of a takeover rise. If this happens, the next important resistance point to watch will be at 60p. A break below the support at 40p will invalidate the bullish view.