Steer condemns VT special dividend proposal

Artemis' Tim Steer has condemned VT Group over its proposed £233m dividend payout to defend against a takeover approach from Babcock.

Steer, a shareholder in both VT and Babcock, believes the defence firm should open up its books to its rival, despite the VT labeling Babcock's £1.25bn bid "totally unacceptable", weekend reports suggest. The Artemis UK Growth manager, who holds about 5% of VT's shares, says the special 126p per share dividend would be likely to prevent VT from buying support service company Mouchel, the company it offered £330m for. "VT is meant to be branching out from defence, not limiting itself to it," Steer told the Sunday Times.