Babcock's fire sale to cut debt

 

Defence and support services group Babcock, down 7.5p at 520p, has put a number of businesses on the sale block in a bid to reduce debt following its £1.5bn takeover of rival VT this summer.

Analysts believe it could raise £300m to cut its debts, which ballooned to £796m from £302m after the VT deal.

It may offload its rail maintenance arm, its waste division and other operations such as VT's facilities management operation in the US.