Stanley Gibbons proposes Aim delisting under shareholder pressure

Stanley Gibbons has proposed delisting from the London Stock Exchange after pressure from its largest shareholder and sole creditor to do so.

Phoenix Asset Management, which holds a 58 per cent stake in the group and provides all its debt facilities, said the long-term potential of the company was unchanged but that there were “clear benefits” to ending the listing. The cost, management time and regulatory burden of listing were “disproportionate” to the benefits to the company, Phoenix said.

The stamp and coin trader, which began in 1856 when teenager Stanley Gibbons opened a stamp counter in Plymouth, must gain 75 per cent support from its shareholders to cancel its shares on London’s Aim exchange.

If shareholders do not back the proposal to delist, Phoenix will “reconsider its continued financial support for the company and the company should not rely on that support”, it said.

The exchange is expected to remove the group on September 7 if the resolution is passed.

Stanley Gibbons shares have fallen 81 per cent since 2016.

Graham Shircore will step down as chief executive on September 12 to return to work at Phoenix. Tom Pickford will replace him.