Zamano to list on IEX in order to fund acquisitions

Mobile services group Zamano will take a listing on Dublin's IEX, the exchange's enterprise market for smaller stocks, in a bid to increase access to funds for future acquisitions.

John O'Shea, the group's managing director, said that while Zamano has no plans to raise any money immediately through the listing - it already has at least €7.4 million of cash in the bank - presence on a second exchange will increase its exposure and create greater potential for fund raising in the future.

Zamano, which is based in Dublin, first listed its shares on London's Alternative Investment Market (Aim) at the end of October. Mr O'Shea said that, at the time, the company received significant expressions of interest from Irish institutions that were unable to participate in the Aim listing. "This time round it is for them," he said yesterday.

"An IEX listing opens us up to a lot of funds that are particularly interested in investing in growth companies."

In its first indication of trading activity since the London listing, Zamano said yesterday that turnover and profits would be in line with market expectations. Goodbody is forecasting turnover of €12.6 million and pretax profit of €2.3 million for last year.

"Our listing on Aim and the successful conclusion of the year's trading have created the base for continued growth in 2007," said Mr O'Shea. "Our good trading performance has been driven by progress across all areas of our operations."

Since it was set up in 2000, Zamano has completed three takeovers and indicated that its primary focus for possible future acquisitions will be the UK. It has a strong presence in Ireland and the UK and last year broke into the Australian market.

The listing, due at the end of February, will be the first this year for the Dublin exchange, which is predicting that eight new companies will join the IEX this year. Jefferson Smurfit has already announced its intention to list on Dublin's main market.