Birse chief quashes rumours of rival bid

by John Leitch



The chief executive of Birse Construction has quashed industry rumours that a construction rival is planning to make a bid for the company despite 40 million Birse shares changing hands in the past fortnight.

John Elders said: "If anyone buys a 3 per cent stake they must inform the Stock Exchange and that hasn't happened. Bovis was reported to be after us - if it is we know nothing about it. No one has made a direct approach and we are not looking for one. I'm here to run the company not sell it."

Twenty million Birse shares changed hands on 19 July, the first trading day after the announcement of its annual results. A further 20 million have been traded since then.

Birse has a total of 220 million shares. Peter Birse, the company's founder, holds almost 45 million shares. He stood down from executive chairman to non-executive chairman a fortnight ago.

Elders believes that the most likely explanation for the upsurge in share trading is individuals who see Birse as "a good chance for a punt." He explained: "The dividend was reasonable. It's a decent investment with good chances of the share price going up significantly."