Smaller plays go for growth

Two small AIM companies with aggressive growth plans have made intriguing recent moves. IPT, which joined AIM in December 2004 at 68p, is a rising star in the UK’s rapidly growing online direct marketing industry – the current 156p values IPT at £55.84 million.

Chief executive Lionel Thain’s pre-close 2005 trading statement reported strong ongoing trading. He expects revenues for the year to surge to around £13.5 million, up from the £8.4 million unearthed in 2004, with profits likely to top £1.7 million, versus £700,000 last time.

Also making frantic moves on AIM is Scandinavian marketing outsourcing business Delling Group, which has acquired Swedish document production venture n3prenor for £1.6 million, roughly four times pre-tax profits. N3prenor produces annual reports and other corporate documents for the Swedish Post Office among others.

Exploiting rising corporate hunger for fully serviced outsourced marketing and boasting a growing pipeline of potential acquisitions, Delling has also clinched a two-year contract supplying McDonald’s sixty Norwegian outlets with marketing material. With UK expansion on the back burner for now, Delling is focusing its efforts on Eastern Europe (Poland and the Baltics) and Scandinavia.

London’s allure for emerging market businesses shows no sign of abating. Comstar UTS, a subsidiary of Russian conglomerate AFK Sistema operating in Moscow, is a fixed-line telecoms provider also offering voice, data, internet and even pay TV services. City analysts think its IPO could raise somewhere between £228 million and £313 million, with the company planning to sell shares in Russia and list global depositary receipts in London.