Debt news hits Pentos

Shares in Pentos, the beleaguered retail group that pushed its Athena subsidiary into receivership after Christmas, fell 2.5p to 9.5p yesterday after the company confirmed it had been forced to reschedule £4.2m worth of debts. Pentos, which also owns the Dillons bookshops and Rymans the stationers, said it had been unable to repay loans to two European banks when they fell due this month. The loans related to refurbishment work undertaken at the Dillons stores during 1993. Talks on rescheduled payments began last month and were concluded last week. Pentos denied that the banks had threatened to call the loans in.

The company also denied that it was contracted to buy £10m of unwanted stock from a former wholesale subsidiary, Athena International. Pentos said yesterday that the stock, such as greeting cards and gift wrap paper, would be sold through Rymans and Dillons.

Pentos also confirmed yesterday that it was seeking a buyer for Rymans and Pentos Office Furniture. Pentos is hoping to raise £15m from the sale of Rymans, which many analysts see as optimistic. The stationery stores made a loss of £4m at the half-year and are expected to make a further loss of £800,000 in the next six month period.

The disposals would leave the group with only its Dillons chain of bookshops, which account for more than three-quarters of group sales, and clear the way for a long-expected refinancing. However the group faces another hurdle in February when its main lenders, Barclays and Midland Bank, review its banking facilities. A spokesman for Pentos said it was likely that the existing arrangements would be rolled over.