Dixons To Float One Fifth Of Freeserve

The Dixons Group has announced that it is to float 18.25% of its successful internet subsidiary Freeserve on the London Stock Exchange and the Nasdaq in the US. John Pluthero, chief executive of Freeserve, commented: “The floatation of Freeserve is an important milestone in our strategy to become the UK’s home on the internet.”

Shares will be available to both institutional investors worldwide and UK retail investors who register with the service before 9 July. Dixons did not reveal the price of the shares, but industry estimates value the company at about £2 billion.

Freeserve was launched in September last year, and currently has over 1.3 million active registered accounts (see Newsline).

Pluthero said: “Since we created the subscription-free internet access model, we have rapidly become the UK’s largest internet service provider and a leading internet portal. We intend to leverage the benefits of our position as a separately quoted company to ensure that we take full advantage of the substantial opportunities available to us in order to offer the service, the content and the e-commerce opportunities that our customers desire.”

Freeserve: 01442 354285