| Formerly | Rural Planning Services |
|---|---|
| Company type | Limited company |
| Industry | Environmental consulting,Upstream Oil and Gas andRenewable Energy consulting |
| Founded | 1970 |
| Headquarters | Abingdon-on-Thames, England |
Key people | Ken Lever (Chairman) John Douglas (CEO) |
| Revenue | |
Number of employees | 5,000 (2022)[2] |
| Parent | Tetra Tech, Inc. |
| Website | www.rpsgroup.com |
RPS Group Limited is a globalprofessional services firm of consultants and service providers, headquartered inAbingdon-on-Thames, England. It was listed on theLondon Stock Exchange until it was acquired byTetra Tech in January 2023.
RPS was founded in 1970, as Rural Planning Services,[3] with founder Michael Boddington as its first chief executive.[4] It was first listed on theLondon Stock Exchange in 1987.[3]
In the late 20th century, the company expanded under the leadership of a later chief executive, Alan Hearne, and in 2001 he received theFinancial Times /London Stock Exchange Entrepreneur of the Year award and company was nominated in the top four for PLC of the Year in the same awards.[5]
In 2014 RPS Group acquiredCgMs Consulting, a consultant company speicalising in obtaining significantplanning permission ingreen belt areas.[6]
In August 2022,WSP Global made atakeover offer to purchase RPS Group for £591 million.[7][8][9] In September 2022, RPS received a counter takeover offer fromTetra Tech for £636 million[10] with WSP opting not to increase its bid.[11] RPS' shareholders voted to accept the Tetra Tech offer in November 2022[12] and it was approved by the court in January 2023.[13]