Iceland article in Daily Telegraph

All,
Another article published this morning on Iceland by the Telegraph.  Nothing new in the article and mainly refers to the shareholder's (Brait) efforts to market their stakes in Iceland and New Look so as to secure funding.  

Debt levels:
The article refers to the debt levels at 5.4x, but with mostly long term debt maturities (£40m FRNs need to be repaid by July 2020), the Company has significant runway.  

CoC:

The article further discusses a need/desire to refinance in the short term as a result of a sale of Brate’s stake. However, a CoC will not be triggered if Brait alone sell their sake, as long as management - Walker et al - maintain theirs.  The more relevant question is whether Brait can find a buyer of their sake, given that Walker et al retain majority control of the votes.  Alternatively, do Brait have a way to exercise pressure on management to force Walker to give up control of Iceland and thereby make the potential package more attractive. Failing that we are sceptical.

We maintain our view that Iceland is unlikely to see any debt refinancing in the short term and the Company will conclude its expansion plans with the final 35 stores in 2020. 

We continue to hold a small position in the 25s. 

Tomas