Charter, the UK engineering group that was due to be taken over by US firm Lincoln Electric, is considering legal action after Lincoln's offer lapsed last week.

Charter's share price dropped 11% on Friday, closing at £3.385 (€5.82), before it emerged that Lincoln's £386m offer for the firm had lapsed. To make matters worse, Charter's share price has since halved to a 52-week low of £1.56.