19 March 2002 Detica, a Guildford, England-based IT services company specialising in customer relationship management (CRM), has announced plans to float on the London stock exchange (LSE).

The flotation will make Detica the first computer company to list on the LSE in more than a year. Detica is expected to be valued at up to £100 million (€162m).

For the year to the end of March 2001, Detica boasted sales of £26.6 million (€43m) and pre-tax profits of £4.7 million (€7.6m). CRM accounts for approximately 56% of Detica’s revenues. The company was formerly known as the Smith Group and changed its name in 2001.

In 1997, the company was involved in a management buy-out (MBO), backed by MBO financing specialist Candover. It still has a 40% stake in Detica and Candover is expected to sell a large portion of its holding in Detica. Management and staff, who own the remaining 60% of the company, will be restricted to selling no more than 20% of their stakes.

The company expects to raise around £16 million (€25.9m) in new financing as a result of the flotation. Detica intends to use half of that amount to repay debt and redeem preference shares. The rest of the sum will go towards “selective expansion opportunities, possibly including acquisitions”.

Detica intends to complete the initial public offering before the end of June this year and has appointed UBS Warburg as its sponsor, global co-ordinator, book-runner and financial adviser.