Atkins moves a step closer to blue-chip heaven [Business Focus]

WS Atkins is a stock-marketlisted multinational infrastructure engineering and design group that rarely makes big headlines. This is partly because many of its activities are not that ´sexy´ in engineering terms. It is also because the business has not yet grown to the point where it would gain entry to the ranks of the FTSE-100, thereby winning the ´blue chip´ status so favoured by the financial media.