Jarvis gets bid approach
JARVIS, the rail maintenance group, saw its shares jump to their highest level in over a year yesterday, after saying it had received a tentative approach from a potential buyer.
Shares in the group rose as high as 27.23p, having mostly limped along at below 20p since a profits warning was issued by the board in November 2007.
“The Board wishes to emphasise that although a tentative inquiry has been made about a possible offer, the inquiry is extremely preliminary in nature,” Jarvis said.
The group, which is chaired by Steven Norris, stressed that there was no certainty that any approach offer would be forthcoming.
In July, Jarvis replaced its chief executive as it said one-off restructuring and redundancy costs had pushed it to an annual loss of £6.3m, compared with a £4.5m profit a year earlier.