This Company has been an old bid chesnut for many years and under previous management turned down a bid ,from memory,in excess of 150p. New management under Chairman David Fish and CEO Stuart Oades were brought in to rejuvenate the Company and much has been done to generate more business although the UK business has been a drag on the share price.At 60p the shares yield 6.1%. Moreover, Fidelity have just announced a 4.91% stake and Directors have been buyers in the past. This Company may well be a good each way recovery play with a reasonable yield in the meantime and the possibility of being swept in. May be worth consideration? I have purchased today.

Well it looks like the sp weakness has encouraged two potential suitors to approach the Company in order to make a bid, and the sp moved ahead strongly and is around 64p. It seems the the possible predators are Wincanton (which I speculated on in post 7 ), Deutsche Post, Norbert Dentressangle and Kuehne Nagel. It is also felt in some quarters that Private Equity may be interested given
SVC's undervalued property and cash flow. However, I think it is more likely to be trade interest. The sp could well go higher if 2 interested parties enter the fray but, a condition will probably be that the family sell out.

The bid finally came today at 92p in cash from Norbert Dentressangle and has been approved by the Board. Presumably the Salvesen family decided to sell out. The bid was probably more than was expected having seen estimates around the 80p+ level. Perhaps the extra was the price of getting family consents. Turned out to be a profitable investment plus receiveing a good few dividends along the way.