Queues start for stake in finance website

Jul 18 2007 by David Jones, Liverpool Daily Post

INVESTORS are queuing up to buy a stake in a financial services company based at Ewloe, near Chester, which is due to float on the stock market in a matter of days.

The listing at the end of the month will value moneysupermarket.com at close to £1bn and underline the massive progress made by the country’s leading price comparison website since it was set up as an online business just eight years ago.

It all represents a huge success story for the company and co-founder and majority shareholder Simon Nixon stands to reap a windfall of up to £190m if the flotation is oversubscribed. But it isn’t just the top managers who will do well out of the IPO.

Everyone in the firm will benefit from the listing, with the 600 employees each receiving £3,000 worth of shares in recognition of the part they have played in building up the business.

But what do the staff think the future holds for the company – and for them – as bosses make final preparations for the milestone stock market listing?

Jody Oakes, 24, a video editor with the company, said: “I was extremely pleased with the shares we received. I really wasn't expecting the amount we were given. I think this company will go from strength to strength. When I joined in April last year, we had 360 employees. Now we have 600.

“Filming and video editing was something I always wanted to do while studying at university. I have been given a rare opportunity so I am enjoying every aspect of my job.

” Such has been the pace of growth at moneysupermarket.com’s headquarters that not all of its employees can get parking places outside its expanded offices on St David’s Business Park, Ewloe, and a two-shift parking space system operates, with some employees having a three-minute walk from an overflow car park nearby.

Ms Oakes, of Maghull, near Liverpool, recently won an in-house award. She said: “One of the best things about winning was getting a parking spot near the front door as it's a one-hour drive for me to get here!”

Business developer Leila Hashami, 25, of Wrexham, who has worked for moneysupermarket.com for a year, said: “I think the company will continue to grow and may diversify into other areas and expand to new markets in continental Europe.

“I have been involved in setting up new partners and coordinating develop-ment between both parties. The most recent partner I helped bring to money-supermarket.com was Virgin Media.”

Rana Khan, 29, of Wallasey, Wirral, is one of more than 100 programmers running the company’s website which is at the heart of the business.

He said: “I feel the company will progress because of its friendliness and the commitment of its staff.”

The three employees said they used the company’s websites to research product prices and make purchases.

Mr Khan said: “I have just got a Sky broadband, phone and TV package and used our shopping channel to get a Dell Inspiron 6400 laptop.”

david.r.jones@dailypost.co.uk