Having highlighted the attractions of Nichols (NICL), the VIMTO beverages business, only last week in my Investor’s Champion small cap summary I see that the Board of Nichols announced today that it is currently in preliminary discussions regarding the possibility of an offer for the company. They went on to say that discussions are at an early stage and accordingly, there is no certainty that any offer will be made.

Clearly others have noticed those elements that I referred to in my note, notably the valuable brand, strong balance sheet and lovely cash-or perhaps there is something else!

In a way it will be a shame to see it move from AIM as it represents a nice little AIM stock for IHT planning purposes with an attractive yield.