Under the rules of the Takeover Code, Day has to keep his offer open for 14 days until July 12. After that time, the offer will close. Day had previously issued an open-ended offer to Bonmarché shareholders, which the retailer initially urged its shareholders to ignore.

However, Bonmarché yesterday made a U-turn, telling its shareholders that they should accept Day’s £5.7m offer due to worsening trading.