A Blackpool-based provider of marketing solutions is plotting a London stock market flotation, providing a welcome boost amid concerted government efforts to make the UK capital markets more attractive.
Sky News understands that International Connections Group (ICG), which provides advertisers with targeted print and digital solutions in sectors such as luxury hotels and funeral homes, is drawing up plans for a listing which could be launched in the new year.
The company has hired Panmure Liberum, the investment bank, to work on the initial public offering.
ICG partners with ‘hosts’ such as Aston Martin and McLaren dealerships, Mandarin Oriental hotels and Circle Health Group, providing its products free in return for advertising sales opportunities.
It had 2,300 such hosts at the end of 2024, with that figure rising to about 2,500 this year.
The company is chaired by Alan Aubrey, a former boss of the London-listed scientific ventures backer IP Group, while Ray Ingleby, ICG’s chief executive, has previously taken three other businesses public.
Its likely valuation was unclear on Monday, although one investor speculated that it could be in the region of £50m prior to any primary capital being raised.
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ICG’s plans for a London float come in the wake of a string of larger company flotations in recent months, including the food producer Princes and banking group Shawbrook.
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Those listings have provided a glimmer of optimism about London’s ability to recapture ground lost to rival international exchanges in recent years.
A spokesman for ICG declined to comment.
