Recruitment consultancy Search has announced its intention to float on the AIM market in July.

The group, which has recently established an office in Birmingham, will join via a placing of new and existing shares to UK institutional investors.

The company is also seeking to raise new funds to repay existing debt and to help finance continued expansion of the business through the roll out of its network of large city-centre offices.

Arbuthnot Securities has been appointed as sole nominated adviser and broker to Search. Search was founded in Glasgow in 1987 and was acquired by its present management team in early 2000, backed by 3i Group.

In the year ended December 31, Search increased turnover by 20 per cent to £77.5 million, raised fee income by 24 per cent to £22.9 million and boosted earnings before interest, tax and goodwill amortisation by 94 per cent to £2.9 million.

Search operates from a network of 13 offices based around its super-site business model.

They include Manchester, Edinburgh, Dunfermline, Crawley, Dundee, Leicester, Leeds, Liverpool, London, Aberdeen, Birmingham and Sheffield.

Search currently employs over 400 staff, of which some 275 are specialist sector consultants, and works across 16 different areas. This includes accountancy and finance, call centres, IT, insurance, legal, office services, construction and sales and marketing.

It claims 2,500 corporate clients, which include major blue-chip companies such as HBOS, BSkyB, Tesco, Barclays, British Gas and Scottish Power.

Grahame Caswell, chief executive of Search, said: "Flotation will enable us to continue the roll-out of our super-site business model and will help to enhance awareness of the Search brand, particularly in southern England.

"It will also help us to attract and retain highquality specialist consultants and enable them and other investors to share in the continued success of the company."

The Search management team comprises Mr Caswell, finance director Graham Sharpe, director, company secretary Chris Mason and non- executive chairman Adrian Burn. n Debt advice group Debtmatters hopes to raise £3 million through a share placing when it lists on AIM towards the end of June.

The group, which sets up individual voluntary arrangements, plans to plough the cash into marketing and advertising, as well as increasing its investment in staff and technology. IVAs are agreements between consumers and creditors, under which people agree to repay a set percentage of their debts, generally over a five year period, in exchange for interest on them being frozen.

Consumers are currently taking on record levels of debt, with the amount people owe in mortgages, loans and on credit cards passing the £1 trillionmark last year.

As a result, the market for IVAs has grown at around 40 per cent a year. Debtmatters' turnover for the year to the end of March increased fivefold to £2.5 million.

The group makes its money by charging a fee to set up one of the agreements, usually around £1,750.

This is followed by an ongoing monthly supervisory fee of around £42.