Investor anger over cut-price Flybe takeover

Furious Flybe shareholders who have lost thousands of pounds as the company’s value plummeted have condemned the ‘ shocking’ demise of the airline. ordinary investors who bought Flybe stock have called on bosses to reveal the circumstances which led to them accepting a bargain-basement 1p-a- share takeover offer from Connect Airways, which is a consortium made up of Virgin, stobart Group and Cyrus Capital.

Muhamed Miah, 34, has lost around £85,000 having invested in November, and accused the board of playing down how bad a state the company was in, robbing him of the chance to pull his money out.

‘it’s shocking, the way they’ve treated shareholders,’ he told the Mail. ‘i think the board of directors is very tight-lipped.’ separately, Flybe chief executive Christine ourmieres-Widener was accused by a pilot of destroying the airline.

An email from the pilot, seen by the BBC, said: ‘Christine congratulations, in two years at Flybe you and your fellow incompetent cohorts have managed to totally destroy a viable airline. You should be ashamed of yourself. if you had a modicum of responsibility and feeling you would have resigned.’

Confronted with the email in an interview, ourmieres-Widener told the BBC that the takeover bid was the only way that ‘desperate’ Flybe could survive. ‘By taking this decision we saved 2,500 employees and 1,400 pensioners, and we also had in mind the 150,000 customers,’ she said. ‘The deal we signed with Connect Airways is the only one that will secure our future.’

she added: ‘The industry is facing massive change. Foreign exchange, the cost of fuel and the Brexit situation. Flybe is not the only one facing these difficult challenges.’

The row came as Hosking Partners, Flybe’s biggest shareholder with a 19pc stake, seeks to block the sale to Connect Airways. Executives are furious Flybe is being sold for 1p a share just months after a merger with stobart, that valued it at more than 40p a share, was vetoed.

small investors told the Mail they have been ‘fleeced’, after statements from the board implied it could turn around its fortunes.

one, a 61-year-old retired GP who preferred to remain anonymous, has lost around £39,000. He said: ‘i don’t think anyone quite saw it coming. i’ve got some sympathy with the board’s desire to keep jobs safe, but i feel like we’ve been fleeced. Flybe said they were in turnaround mode, and although they were never making great profits they always said things were going well.’

Cliff Weight, from shareholder organisation sharesoc, blamed the UK’s insolvency procedures for inadequately protecting investors.

He said current procedure forces firms to agree cut-price deals to avoid administration, and has urged the Government to consider a usstyle process giving struggling businesses more time to reorganise debt.

Flybe said: ‘We understand this has been a very disappointing outcome for shareholders and this was not a decision we took lightly, but was one that was necessary.’