Wily city financier Bob Morton, the entrepreneurial catalyst behind the resurgence of accountancy venture Tenon last year (and many others down the years), has wasted no time in completing his first AIM deal of 2008, shepherding Conchango from PLUS to the junior market on January 14th with the help of advisers JM Finn.
Wily city financier Bob Morton, the entrepreneurial catalyst behind the resurgence of accountancy venture Tenon last year (and many others down the years), has wasted no time in completing his first AIM deal of 2008, shepherding Conchango from PLUS to the junior market on January 14th with the help of advisers JM Finn.
The launch onto AIM is actually the last step in the transformation of Harrier, the cash shell that Morton moved from AIM to PLUS last year following a change in the rules governing these vehicles. While ensconced on PLUS, Morton was afforded sufficient time to find a suitable deal for Harrier, finally completing the £31 million reverse takeover of Conchango in December, in a cash and shares deal (the cash element was a mere £1.5 million). “We’ve done a great deal for everyone involved and we’re in a great position to push everything forward” said Morton.
According to Conchango’s co-founder and managing director Richard Twaite, the reverse takeover afforded his group “more control that the traditional form of listing”, and he now hopes to use his “AIM paper to complete further acquisitions”. Twaite claims he is “currently in talks” with a few companies with sales of between £5 million and £8 million that will extend Conchango’s “existing technical and creative capabilities”. These include business consulting, business intelligence, and enterprise architecture and systems integration.
In the nine months to 30 September 2007, Conchango achieved a profit before tax of £2.3 million on sales of £26.5 million. It is currently valued at £37 million on AIM.
