The company is based in Lancaster and provides a range of internet services, including web hosting, internet connectivity, and website optimization to more than 18,500 customers around the country. The firm employs over 200 people across its offices in Lancaster, Salford, Bradford and London, and is one of the largest privately held business ISPs in the UK.
Managing director, Simon Cleaver, said: We are extremely excited about the float as it places us firmly in position to become a reckonable force within the ISP marketplace.
Our strategy has always been to focus on the acquisition of established customer bases and ISP infrastructure within the fragmented ISP market, in addition to the organic growth of the company, and the flotation will enable Business Serve to place an increased emphasis on this strategy, he added.
Business Serve Ltd was initially formed in 1997 and became one of the few profitable ISPs by concentrating on the provision of business-focused internet services to small to medium-sized enterprises and to the corporate market.
In April 2000, Business Serve Ltd merged with Network Directions Ltd (a telecoms provider), The Search Engineers Ltd, a web site management company, and VNet (UK) Ltd, an ISP, to become Business Serve Plc.
Since then, the company has grown significantly, from annual revenue for the year ended March 2000 of 2.5m pounds ($4.5m), to 8.1m pounds ($14.7m) for the year ended March 2003.
Over recent years it has also acquired OnCue Telecommunication, Cerbernet Ltd, Artera Ltd, and Intensive Networks Ltd, and in November 2003, it acquired Bradford, UK-based Legend Internet Ltd, another ISP. The combined company will now have annual sales in excess of 12m pounds ($21.8m).
This article is based on material originally published by ComputerWire
