Universal Salvage recommends Copart bid

LONDON (Reuters) - U.S. firm Copart Inc (CPRT.O: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) has made a recommended 57 million pounds offer for vehicle salvage and auction services group Universal Salvage UVS.L, the groups said on Thursday.

Copart said the 200 pence per share deal represented a premium of 5.3 percent to the Universal Salvage share price on February 1, the day before the group said it was in talks, and would allow it to expand further into the UK market.

"(This) will allow Copart to expand its operations into the UK and the combination of both businesses will allow us to provide an improved service to our customers," Copart President Jayson Adair said.

Universal Salvage said on February 16 talks about a possible takeover at 200 pence per share had ended, without saying who had ended the talks or why they had broken down.

The Bedfordshire-based firm, which scraps written-off cars and auctions damaged vehicles bought from insurance companies, in February reported a pre-tax profit of 900,000 pounds for the six months to end-October on turnover up 28 percent at 32.6 million pounds.

Copart, which auctions wrecked cars for insurers, in March posted a rise in second quarter earnings per share from continuing operations to $0.32 (16 pence) from $0.28 the year before as revenue grew to $128.9 million from $125.1 million.

Shares in Universal Salvage, which has been advised by Panmure Gordon, closed at 188 pence on Wednesday. Copart is being advised by Investec.