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LONDON, April 5 (Reuters) - U.S. firm Copart Inc (CPRT.O: Quote, Profile , Research)has made a recommended 57 million pounds ($113 million) offerfor British vehicle salvage and auction services group UniversalSalvage Plc (UVS.L: Quote, Profile , Research), the groups said on Thursday.

Copart said the 200 pence per share deal represented apremium of 5.3 percent to the Universal Salvage share price on Feb. 1, the day before the group said it was in talks, andwould allow it to expand further into the UK market.

"(This) will allow Copart to expand its operations into theUK and the combination of both businesses will allow us toprovide an improved service to our customers," Copart PresidentJayson Adair said.

Universal Salvage said on Feb. 16 talks about a possibletakeover at 200 pence per share had ended, without saying whohad ended the talks or why they had broken down.

The Bedfordshire-based firm, which scraps written-off carsand auctions damaged vehicles bought from insurance companies,in February reported a pretax profit of 900,000 pounds for thesix months to end-October on turnover up 28 percent at 32.6million pounds.

Copart, which auctions wrecked cars for insurers, in Marchposted a rise in second quarter earnings per share fromcontinuing operations to $0.32 from $0.28 the year before asrevenue grew to $128.9 million from $125.1 million.

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