The group, which generated turnover of £305 million last year, will also list its shares on PLUS.

The listing will raise no new money for the company, but its directors hope it will give Mears a higher profile with both investors and customers. The shares rose almost three per cent to 297p on the news.

In the year to date, PLUS has represented some ten per cent of the total trading activity in Mears shares. Bob Holt, chairman of Mears, says the company’s decision to continue to dual-list its shares on PLUS should ‘maximise the benefits of our move to the Official List, giving us the greatest profile and investor coverage available in London’.

Simon Brickles, CEO of PLUS Markets Group, comments: ‘We are delighted to welcome Mears as the first company to realise the benefits of competing exchanges offering access to the Official List in London, by choosing to dual-list on PLUS.’

Mears was among the first companies to list on AIM and is one of the market’s biggest success stories. Since its flotation in October 1996 at 10p its share price has increased by a factor of 29, returning an annualised 34 per cent to investors excluding dividends.

Its transfer to the Official List is scheduled for 8am on Monday 23 June.