Premier issues sharp retort

MELBOURNE: Hostile bid antagonist Premier Investments has slated Just Group's upwardly revised trading announcement released yesterday (July 31).  A Premier statement also issued on July 31 stated that Just had downgraded its earnings per share guidance from its original Target's Statement by 11 per cent to 15 per cent in early July.

"Despite lowering the bar massively, Just did not even manage to hit the top end of its revised downgraded guidance."

"Just's poor results further highlight the attractiveness of Premier's offer," Premier's statement concluded.

Just Group's July 31 statement had said it expected unaudited pro-forma sales revenue to increase to approximately $387 million for the 26 weeks ending July 26 2008.

"This is a solid result that brings unaudited pro-forma full year FY2008 sales to approximately $812.2 million, which is above the mid-point of Just Group's pro-forma sales guidance of $808 million to $814 million."