Online retailer Gameplay yesterday offered investors a glimmer of hope by announcing that it had received offers for all or part of the group. Shares in the loss-making firm jumped 2.25p to 16.75p, but remain 98% below last year's high of £11.
There is no certainty that the conditional offers made by the unnamed third parties will be satisfactory, however. Interim results, which were to be announced yesterday and would have revealed the amount of cash Gameplay has in the bank, have been delayed until after the outcome of the offer talks.
Earlier this month Commerzbank Securities was appointed to carry out a strategic review of the group's activities. Gameplay is split into two divisions: one focuses on its technology, which enables consumers to play the games and buy them over the internet; and the other handles its mail order boxed games interests.
Management teams from some of the boxed game division businesses are said to have made buy-out offers.
Shares in Gameplay soared last year as investors eagerly backed its plan to build a pan-European business selling games over the internet to PC, digital television and mobile phone users.
However, the shake-out in the valuation of dot.com companies and the slower than expected roll-out of the faster internet connections, needed to play games on the web, have hit the company's share price hard.
In February the company cut 275 jobs and closed its high street stores, in response to pressure from investors who wanted to see a reduction of losses. It failed to stop the decline in the company's share price, and when partnership talks with US networking firm Cisco were abandoned after details were leaked to the press, Gameplay had little option but to put itself up for sale.
Analysts say it is unclear who would be interested in buying the business at a time when e-commerce is firmly out of favour.
