Ramsdens Holdings – after a 316% two-year gain, SQC Research readers should take the US cash bid and reinvest it immediately
- Mark Watson-Mitchell
- 1 day ago
- 4 min read
Mark Watson-Mitchell - 02.07.2026
What is the expression?
A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush!
I note that expression because various investors in Ramsdens Holdings (LON:RFX) have been wondering what to do with their holdings in the group after the recently announced £206m cash bid from the US-based FirstCash Holdings.
Ramsdens, which I have been following for years, is a UK-based diversified retailer and financial services provider, offering jewellery retail, precious metals buying, foreign currency exchange and pawnbroking services.
The business today operates both through a nationwide network of 174 stores across England, Scotland and Wales, as well as a growing online offering.
It serves a wide range of customers, including those with limited access to traditional banking services.
On Wednesday, 3rd June, the group reported its Interim Results to end-March, with revenue up 62% to £83.7m (£51.6m), and its half-way pre-tax profit soaring 173% to £16.7m (£6.1m), surpassing the full FY25 profit, which was £16.2m.
That strong performance was driven by a 130% gross profit increase in precious metals purchases to £17.5m, alongside 26% revenue growth in jewellery retail to £26.1m and an 18% increase in pawnbroking gross profit to £7.3m.
At the same time, the company upgraded its FY26 profit before tax forecast to £30m-£33m.
Previous Comments
I remember featuring Ramsdens on Tuesday, 6th August 2024, when the group was valued at just £61.5m, with its shares then 192.50p – and I have followed the business even more closely subsequently.
On Thursday, 6th May, this year, I suggested that ahead of the Interims:
“The shares are inexpensively rated at 385p – while a move to at least trade the 450p-470p range can be expected very soon.”
The day before the Interims they closed at 457.50p, having been up to 460p previously.
Upon the Interims, I stated that I saw the shares rising way above the previous 470p peak, with at least 550p being an easy objective based upon broker estimates, perhaps even progressing a lot higher still.
A Bidder Pounces
On Tuesday, 23rd June, the group announced that FirstCash Holdings, Inc., through its indirect wholly-owned subsidiary Chess Bidco Limited, had made a recommended cash acquisition of Ramsdens Holdings for up to 609p per share, totalling approximately £206m including permitted dividends.
That Offer represented a significant premium, ranging from 33% to 58% over recent trading prices, and aimed to enhance FirstCash's UK market presence.
That proposal, which offered Ramsdens holders a 33% premium over the previous day’s closing price of 453p, was 46% of the volume-weighted average closing price of 412p per Ramsdens share for the previous 3-month period.
The US Nasdaq-quoted FirstCash Holdings, which has a market capitalisation of over £10bn, acquired Ramsden’s larger pawnbroking competitor, the H&T Group, in the middle of April last year.
The £351m acquisition of H&T, which operated some 285 stores in the UK, was completed in mid-August last year, and gave FCH a very useful platform for its UK and, possibly its European growth strategy.
The Fort Worth, Texas-based group is a leading international pawnbroking operator with over 3,300 locations in the US, Latin America and the UK.
The fit of the Ramsden’s business is a natural, and the corporate strength of FCH will enable it to further expand its operations, boosting the FCH estate by another 174 locations.
As the FCH bid announcement stated:
“Ramsdens represents a compelling opportunity for FirstCash to further grow its business in the UK market through the acquisition of a highly complementary business and will further cement FirstCash's position as the largest publicly traded pawn platform in the US, Latin America and the UK.”
As with its H&T takeover, FCH offered cash and allowed the payment of a dividend, to Ramsdens shareholders – 600p cash and a 9p per share dividend payment from the company.
It appears that FCH made some four approaches to the Ramsdens Board before gaining its acceptance of the Offer.
There are whispers and mutterings in the market that the price being paid is not high enough to tempt out all the various institutional and private investors in the Ramsdens equity.
Judith Mackenzie, the head of Downing Fund Managers, is being quoted as looking for a much higher Bid Price – but that would assume a big growth in the UK company’s sales and profitability, which would take time to generate.
The 2025 results showed a massive benefit from the ever-increasing price of gold, but that precious commodity has seen a big fall in value in the last few months.
In My View
I love the world of pawnbroking, having previously been a 15% holder of the equity of Harvey & Thompson (the forerunner of the H&T Group).
Some twenty years ago I prepared a Study on the whole sector, which had some 265 licensed pawnbroking businesses.
It is a great sector in which to play; however, I now feel that the FirstCash bid is one to accept together with the Interim dividend.
A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush!
My view is that it is well worth taking the stock market bid price, of around 590p, and then immediately reinvesting the proceeds elsewhere in the market – there are so many bargain opportunities around for you to make better capital, rather than waiting for the deal to be completed.
(Profile 07.11.19 @ 204p set a Target Price of 250p*)
(Profile 14.01.25 @ 235p set a Target Price of 280p*)
(Profile 15.12.25 @ 357.50p set a Target Price of 430p*)
(Profile 06.05 26 @ 385p set a Target Price of 460p*)
(Profile 03.06.26 @ 493p set a Target Price of 550p*)
