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Anything, in fact, except flaming Metronet, the Tube refurbishment company in which [W S Atkins] has a 20pc stake. True to form, Metronet did a pretty good refurbishment job on Atkins's full- year accounts, repainting the whole lot in red after a pounds 121m exceptional hit. Worse, that's unlikely to be the final bad news from Metronet. In the few years since it started its Tube PPP, Metronet is already facing a pounds 1bn-plus cost overrun. It has been forced to call in regulator Chris Bolt to determine how much of the bill is down to Metronet shareholders and how much to London Underground. Amid all the uncertainty, Metronet's banks have turned off the funding taps, refusing to advance any more cash. On Arbuthnot's forecasts - as opposed to the consensus forecasts in the table, left - of pounds 88.3m profits this year, Atkins shares sit on a multiple of 17 times. Until the uncertainty over Metronet clears, that's too pricey.

The engineer W S Atkins, one of the five members of Metronet, disclosed that it suffered a loss of [pound]400,000 on its overall involvement in the Tube maintenance programme in the six-month period, compared with a [pound]1m profit a year earlier. In addition, a joint venture called Trans4m, which supplies services to Metronet and of which Atkins is a member, made a loss in the first half of [pound]2.4m. Atkins' share was [pound]600,000.

[W S Atkins]'annual pounds 1bn turnover keeps 14, 000 people busy in its 175 offices round the world. The chairman is Michael Jeffries, whose background is as an architect. He is also chairman of the new Wembley National Stadium, one of London's biggest building projects. The framework for its single-spanned roof is already a London landmark. As a technology-based consultancy, Atkins needs a wide spread of talents and it certainly has that in its boardroom. The latest recruits to the board, as non-executive directors, are Lord Boyce, the former chief of defence staff, and Sir Peter Williams of Imperial College, who is also chairman of the Engineering and Technology Board. One of the new areas that Atkins is getting involved in is advising on carbon trading. This arises from the Government'srules on emissions and the scope these give to companies who are able to sell surplus credits to firms finding it hard to meet the targets. Atkins shares are recovering from a rocky period caused by over- optimism about Private Finance Initiative projects. Credit for getting them back on track has gone to finance director Steve Billingham. Within a year, Atkins went from a net debt of pounds 72m to funds in- hand of pounds 58m at the end of March.

WS [W S Atkins], the consultancy involved in the Government's controversial private finance initiative scheme, has received a number of takeover approaches from private equity firms. Neither Electra Partners, nor Apax could comment. However, it is understood that Atkins rebuffed the pre-Christmas proposals. W S Atkins, whose financial advisers are Schroder Salomon Smith Barney, Rothschilds and Cazenove, is in the market now seeking pounds 70m of financing to fund its part in the Metronet consortium to modernise London Underground. This is expected to close in April.

W S ATKINS chief executive Robin Southwell was ejected from the engineering group with a 500,000 golden parachute. Southwell, ousted after two profit warnings last year, collected 400,000 compensation for loss of office, a 76,000 pension topup, 19,000 for legal fees and 5,000 share options - all on top of a 175,000 salary for the six months before he left.

[W S Atkins], which has an operation in Birmingham, is a pounds 517 million-a-year business dating back to the 1960s. It employees nearly 13,000 staff in more than 175 offices around the world. The firm was a member of the consortium that earlier this year won the Rail Industry Innovation Award for its work on clearing one of the UK's most notorious railway bottlenecks - Birmingham's Proof House Junction. Chief executive Robin Southwell said of the Worcester project: 'I welcome the establishment of the SSF, which will give W S Atkins significant competitive advantages as well as improving the delivery of core services as the group grows. Transport Minister John Spellar said that through the SSF, Atkins was demonstrating how productivity improvements in service delivery could be transferred from the private to the public sector.

I WOULD fully support your correspondents' (M Johnston, Donaghadee) remarks regarding our railways and the proposed E-way or busway through East Belfast. Prior to Translink's formation, I understand NIR management recommended this route as a rail link. Contrary to a recent letter from Translink's M C Rogan, consultants W S Atkins did in fact recommend a rail link to Comber from Belfast.

W S Atkins, which has a big office in Birmingham, and Accord Jarvis are joining forces to form Optima Infrastructure...

Balfour now has 68 per cent of Connect and [W. S. Atkins] 32 per cent. The partners are expected to refinance Connect on the back of its recent successful completion of two projects, the A50 Stoke-Derby and A30/ A35 Exeter-Honiton-Bere Regis roads.