Meriden follows Tenon's listing lead
Accountancy-based services group Meriden has begun trading on AIM, following in the footsteps of Tenon.
Russell Stevens, the driving force behind the firm, said: ‘We will develop two brands alongside each other, the established host being an accountancy practice that embraces technology.’
Alongside this the firm plans to run regional ‘UK Centres of e-xcellence’, which will concentrate on delivering specialist IT skills. Midlands-based firm Hamiltons has been chosen as the professional partner for the first centre. It will provide access to a client base, which the firm hopes will yield Pounds 540,000 of valuable income in the first year.
Chairman Derek Hall said ‘we will look for IT aware, regionally-based accountancy practices to team up with across the UK’.
It is understood, each centre will offer a facility, into which clients with high growth potential are invited, in order to create a fast-track development opportunity. Meriden will take small equity stakes in these companies.
Stevens, added: ‘No one is providing boutique consultancy services to small to medium-sized businesses in the UK.’
His partners in the business are non-executive directors Derek Hall, a former executive with JP Morgan and a consultant with Arthur Anderson, and Robert Proctor, the founder of the Internet Exchange chain of internet. Mr Hall will chair the company.
Meriden’s move to market mirrors that of business services firm Tenon, which listed last year. But the top 20 firm’s market cap of Pounds 168m dwarfs that of the new comer, which is valued at about Pounds 8m.