The stock was recalled and ultimately the company discontinued the product. On the back of the berry incident, Patties reported a devastating 88 per cent slump in earnings.The absence of revenue from the berry business also weighed on the half-year result. The company's fortunes have recovered somewhat this year but the share price never regained all that lost ground. Opportune moment That probably puts the offer by PEP in the opportunistic basket. But the Patties Foods board seems to be viewing the deal with a positive eye, saying on Monday that after careful assessment it had determined that engaging further with PEP was in the best interests of shareholders. It added that the talks between parties were in advanced stages.

Behind all the fear generated by negative sentiment around the berry health scare, is a company that is managing to grow its earnings and look for ways to expand including beefing up the sales of savoury foods through non-supermarket retailers. It's a move that appears to be gaining some traction. Like so many other supermarket suppliers, Patties has seen big supermarket home brands add a new dimension of competition to branded manufacturers. The company listed on the stock exchange ten years ago but started as a humble pie shop back in the 1960s. It has been expanding its brand and attempting to find a market in products more in tune with consumer's gourmet tastes rather than relying on the traditional football game pie sales.

Its Herbert Adams brand of pies – like six-hour slow-cooked pulled pork and eight-hour slow-cooked lamb and rosemary pie – sound light years away from the traditional Four'N Twenty chunky beef variety. Cashing in chips Exactly what a private equity player will do with product and distribution remains a mystery – perhaps rapid cooked profit pie or apple turnaround. But for the original owners of Patties – Peter and Annie Rijs, who are still significant shareholders – the offer presents an opportunity to cash out. For other shareholders who may have been in the company for ten years since the float the return would have been disappointing given the initial public offer was at $1.75.

While the share price reached a pinnacle of around $2.50 in its early days as a listed company, the global financial crisis punched a hole in that bubble. But those remarkably canny investors that piled into the stock on Friday received a huge boost as shares gained 17.3 per cent on Monday in response to confirmation of news reports that the company was on an acquirer's radar. Spotless washing Another of Monday's big share price movers was cleaning and catering services business Spotless. Even while reaffirming underwhelming earnings guidance that net profit would be down by 10 per cent this year, Spotless managed to impress the market by announcing it might sell its laundry business.

The news pushed the price up more than 6 per cent to $1.16. This business has traditionally been one of the group's lower margin operations and one that investors would rather see jettisoned with the funds reinvested. It listed at $1.60 in 2014 but the shares and earnings prospects have taken a rollercoaster ride over the past six months moving from highs in November of $2 to lows of less than $1. It was forced to reaffirm its 2016 earnings forecasts on the back of a 10 per cent share price tumble last week as shareholders are clearly feeling jittery about its prospects.