ONE OF THE North’s top entrepreneurs is planning a stock market listing for his latest venture – but not just yet.

Hugh Cormican, a co-founder and former director of AIM-listed Andor Technology, believes there is strong potential for his new company Cirdan Imaging to be the next Northern Irish company to have an initial public offering (IPO).

The North has just three listed companies, Andor Technology, listed in 2004, First Derivatives, which floated on AIM in 2002 and UTV, quoted on both the London Stock Exchange and the Irish Stock Exchange.

Lisburn-based Cirdan was established two years ago by Dr Cormican and a group of entrepreneurs, including four other former Andor people.

It aims to develop pioneering medical imaging techniques that could revolutionise cancer detection and treatment.

Earlier this year, it secured more than £540,000 (€690,000) from private equity investors, including Queen’s University, and expects to launch its first product – an imaging tool to assist radiologists take a biopsy from a suspect lesion to help diagnose breast cancer – in the next 12 months.

Cormican says Cirdan could grow its sales to around £10 million (€12.8 million) within five years and is confident a new research partnership with Queen’s will help create exciting opportunities.

“We know speed of detection and treatment of cancer is critical ... and we hope that through this new faster, more efficient technology, patient outcomes and survival will be improved,” he said. “With our collaboration we can help bring the benefits of research to impact on patients’ lives in considerably shorter timescales than occur elsewhere in the world.”

Initially the research teams will focus on developing new imaging equipment using X-rays and near Infrared Fluorescence to help clinicians detect, diagnose and treat cancer.