Weeks bought by Bureau Veritas

The days of independent trading for Weeks, the consulting group, could well be over following the announcement this morning of an agreed bid worth £7.5m from Bureau Veritas.

The offer of 4.75p a share is well above Weeks' current share price of 3p.

Bureau Veritas already had a "yes" reply from 40% of Weeks shareholders prior to making its offer public. Should the other shareholders follow suit, then Weeks will go private as Bureau Veritas is a French "societe anonyme". Its latest financial figures are somewhat historic, covering the 12 months to the end of 2001. Turnover of £610m produced an operating profit of £60m.

The buyer specialises in quality, health, safety and environmental management. It has a presence in 140 countries.

In the last full year Weeks made a pre-tax profit of £1.2m on a turnover of £19m, but the interim results (six months to 30 September) it was only just in the black, at £354,000. It recently issued a profits warning, a result of margins sliding as expensive subcontracted staff were brought in to compensate for manpower shortages.