Aukett Group, the only UK listed architect, suspended its shares on Tuesday after it announced it was in talks to buy rival Fitzroy Robinson.

The practice said it was making the announcement to end press speculation about a potential acquisition. Its shares closed at 3p.

Suspension of trading is standard prior to a takeover announcement, in order to avoid a 鈥渇alse market鈥� dominated by speculative buying.

Auckett is an international architectural firm with a market capitalisation of 拢2m.

Fitzroy Robinson is a private London company, founded in 1956. It provides architecture, masterplanning and interior design services and has offices in Brighton and Moscow, with associated branches in Budapest and Warsaw.

Jose Luis Ripoll, Aukett鈥檚 chairman, said when he took over the company in April that he would consider expanding the company by merger or acquisition.