UP-for-sale Highway Vehicle Management has been taken off the market just a month after parent company Great Universal Stores announced it was prepared to sell the business. The sale U-turn follows GUS's decision to securitise Highway's debts - effectively sell the debts to an outside party - but retaining the company, which operates a near 20,000-strong fleet within the group.

Last month GUS announced the potential disposal of its £1.2 billion finance division which also includes General Guarantee. The surprise change of mind was announced by GUS chairman Lord Wolfson who said: 'We have recently explored alternative methods, including both sale and debt securitisation, of maximising the value to GUS of the assets within General Guarantee Finance and Highway Vehicle Management. We have now concluded that these businesses should be retained within the Group and that the securitisation of their debtor books will probably provide an opportunity for a more efficient financing structure for the Group.'