Shareholder pay-out mulled by VT Group

VT GROUP is looking at a possible major pay-out to shareholders as a way to fend off the unwelcome £1.25 billion takeover bid for the support services company unveiled by Babcock International last week.

City analysts have calculated VT could pay out 230m, or 126p a share, most likely through a share buy-back but possibly via a special dividend.

VT's shares closed last week at 648.5p, up 140.5p on the week.

However, analysts said if VT did make the pay-out to thwart Babcock it might mean putting its own tabled takeover for Mouchel, the engineering and roads group, on the back burner.