Allders stands by Minerva's agreed bid

The stand-off at Allders, the department store group at the centre of a takeover tussle, continued yesterday as the company reiterated its support for an agreed bid spearheaded by Minerva, the property company.

Brian Fidler, Allders' chairman, said Tom Hunter, the Scottish retail entrepreneur stalking the group, had made no attempt to persuade the board to drop its recommendation of the 160p-a-share offer from Minerva and the ex-Bhs chief executive Terry Green. "No offer has been received and nothing has happened to cause the board to reconsider its recommendation," Mr Fidler said.

His comments came as Allders reported a slight pick-up in sales since Christmas but warned that trading conditions remained difficult.

Mr Hunter, who is also stalking the rival department store group House of Fraser, has built up a 10.8 per cent shareholding in Allders, which he can use to stop Minerva from taking full control. Despite Mr Hunter's lack of action, analysts still think that he would ultimately like to merge the two department store groups.

Although Mr Hunter has until tomorrow to decide whether to launch an offer for House of Fraser, observers believe that he will bide his time. Richard Ratner, at Seymour Pierce, said: "We strongly believe that [Mr Hunter] will not bid for House of Fraser by the deadline on Friday."

Allders said like-for-like sales in the four weeks to 18 January rose by 0.5 per cent. This was an improvement from the 2.6 per cent decline in underlying sales for the 16 weeks to 18 January but sluggish compared with rivals such as Selfridges and Debenhams.

Minerva, which holds 26.5 per cent of Allders, is anxious to gain control of the group's flagship store in Croydon. it wants to redevelop the site as part of a major new retail centre. Takeover rules prevent Minerva from striking a deal with Mr Hunter. Allders' shares fell 4.5p to 159.5p.