Public relations company Freshwater UK has floated on AIM this morning raising £4m and establishing a market capitalisation on £9.48m.
The business has grown rapidly since inception, primarily through acquisition having made no less than seven buy-ups since founding in 1997.
It says that the UK’s PR industry has grown in the last five years and is now worth in excess of £1bn. Freshwater appears to have benefited from this expansion as it now has over 200 clients.
Also, just under 50 of its clients use services from more than one of its divisions which cover areas such as healthcare, technology, leisure and transport.
It now wants to increase its cross-selling opportunities as well as pursuing further acquisitions.
Freshwater’s chief executive Steve Howell, said: “Our flotation will enable us to accelerate our growth plans, by enabling us to use our listing and the finance raised to make larger acquisitions and to recruit and retain the best people.
“There continues to be no shortage of high quality acquisition opportunities and we are able to select those which meet our needs, whether in terms of geographical spread or specialism.
“To date we have made and successfully integrated seven acquisitions.
“We are building the group under a single brand combining our core strengths of a regional network and specialist teams, which enable us to offer the mix of expertise clients require, regardless of location.
Charles Stanley Securities is acting as nominated adviser and broker to Freshwater which was admitted with an initial share price of 85p.
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