We like Huveaux and think they are an interesting, well-run outfit, particularly their education businesses. Therefore we were a bit perplexed when the market pushed their shares from about 53p down to as low as 28p. What led to the collapse in investor confidence was a Huveaux profits warning back in June, caused by problems in its French healthcare business. While it’s unlikely they will ever be a FTSE 100 company as their Chairman once predicted, we think many investors are being overly pessimistic and that the company’s longer terms prospects are good.

Our thinking seems to match that of private equity investors who have made a number of recent takeover offers. Turning over £45m and having 500 staff may sound impressive but it’s pretty small beer for a listed company. It looks like one of these offers will be accepted at which point the buyer will sell off the French business and either split the education and political businesses or sweat them harder than the current management.

www.huveauxplc.com