With so many rumours flying around about PA being up for sale, who are the likely purchasers going to be?

InfosysTataWiproHCLetc.

Why buy a dying moribund organisation when you can cherry pick the individuals?

The Government. Insourcing them all back into the civil service will be cheaper - save us all some tax dollars.

Maybe even a Private Equity company because PA has a ventures arm which has had a few successes. As for the consulting business I can't honestly see that any of the big consultancies would want to touch it! Again, a PE firm could buy it and put in a new management team to rectify the mistakes of the current one and preserve any islands of value.

Poundland

ha ha - very fuuny and I don;t work for PA!

Poundland, you must be joking. You would be lucky to flog PA in a car boot sale.

Are there rumours true? Is PA really up for sale again? Don't they try to sell it every 5 years or so?

But no-one's ever bought it, look closely and buyers can see it for what it really is.

SAIC made an offer shortly before our "saviour" retired, but he didn't go for it. Its probably worth a fraction of that price now

I'd give you a pony for the plasma telly in reception.

"SAIC made an offer shortly before our "saviour" retired, but he didn't go for it. Its probably worth a fraction of that price now"You clearly have no idea how companies are valued. You must be one of the people who was sacked, the share price probably rose 5p just on that news alone.

Sounds like the Chosen One had no idea of how companies are valued if he couldn’t sell it off for a multiple of book value before he retired. As for being fired – you’ve got that wrong too. I got a 3 at half year – which is pretty academic when there have been no pay rises for over a year, and none forecast.Still, at least I should avoid the pay cuts that everyone is waiting for. Hope the cuts are reserved for the cheerleaders.

"Sounds like the Chosen One had no idea of how companies are valued if he couldn’t sell it off for a multiple of book value before he retired."Ignorance personified, even a basic google search will explain how companies are valued and then you'll maybe work it out. I hope your 3 score was for charity as I can't see any other reason for it.

So why didn't SAIC buy it at the time?Pity really, as the company's market value has evaporated since then (a bit like the famous memory stick, or the bag at the opening of T5)

In response to the comment regarding PA's value falling - the share price has risen consistently in the 5 years since I have joined and I have just sold a bunch of share options with a £5 margin. Hence the value of the company has not reduced. Admitedly it may do in the near future (which is a macro economic phenomenon at present) but financial performance over the past few years has been strong.Whilst some of the negative comment on this site may be true (tho in my personal experience most of it hasn't applied to me, ie in my five years I have worked exclusively in the private sector, mostly with c-level clients and never touched a process map - not that there is anything wrong with a process map, just not my thing) - the fact remains that commercially PA is run soundly. Some consultants may not be happy but financially it hits its numbers. This is something a lot of people fail to appreciate largely because many consultants do not understand the fundamentals of business - its about making money - it isn't pleasant if some staff arent happy and I really do feel for them - but ultimately its a business and the bottom line is what counts. PA has built from scratch a number of hugely successful ventures that have been sold in the hundreds of millions - this is hugely impressive and is a world away from the government and process maps which dominates the conversation here (not that either of them are bad). These seem like defending comments. They're not however. I quite like PA but am happy for people to criticise - it's their perogative. Not really sure who it benefits however. O and PA has hundreds of millions in the bank - again leading to the conclusion that it is a financially impressively run company.

"has hundreds of millions in the bank" a sign of poor resource allocation?

Poor resource allocation?Maybe it is. As an employee and a shareholder in a company that is capable of making such sums, poor resource allocation in this context is not really something that I worry about. And yes, a significant proportion of that money was made selling 123, however, again, that was a great financial decision to sell at the peak of the market.