Esprit Telecom makes a collect call for cash

Date: 10/04/1997

For British-based Esprit Telecom Group, a listing on EASDAQ was a logical follow-up to its earlier introduction on US counterpart NASDAQ.

“It was a fairly easy step once we were quoted on NASDAQ,” said company president Michael Potter, adding: “We considered other options before we went for EASDAQ.”

Apart from the 43 million ecu raised from the listing, the EASDAQ quotation has helped the company to achieve a better balance of transatlantic shareholders.

Around one-quarter of shareholders are now European. “We wanted a European listing because most of our business is in Europe and 98&percent; of our employees are European,” said Potter, who previously worked for a Washington-based company of technology consultants.

Esprit Telecom characterises itself as one of the predators on the slowly liberalising European telecommunications market.

Founded in 1991, it specialises in providing customised national and international phone services for governments, financial institutions, transport companies and hotels.

The British government awarded the company a contract for two years running to provide its phone services, and it has signed up about half of London's five-star hotels.

“We are the telecoms version of Virgin against British Airways,” said Potter.

He added that the slow establishment of EASDAQ had not been a problem, saying: “We knew it was a recently launched exchange and that it would take a year or two to take off.”

Esprit's share has posted modest gains since its launch on EASDAQ at the end of February. The share had risen by 2.3&percent; on its initial price of 10.25 ecu by the end of March.