Newly listed dispute firm plans to boost project management arm

Driver Group, the dispute resolution specialist which last month floated on AIM, has outlined an ambitious growth plan, writes Roxane McMeeken. The listing, which has raised £2m, is aimed at fuelling an acquisition as well as expansion into project management and geographically into the Middle East.

Driver has around 70 staff now and plans to raise this to 100 in the next 12 months.

The Rossendale, Lancashire-based firm is looking to hire directors for its offices in London, Dubai and Abu Dhabi.

It plans to boost its presence in the south of the UK by acquiring a practice of between 5 and 25 people skilled in both dispute resolution work and project management.

The firm might also open a five to six-man office in either Bristol or Cardiff to improve its reach in the South West.

In line with the requirements of AIM the firm recently appointed two non-executive directors, David Clements, a former director of Atkins, and Michael Davis, an accounting consultant.

We have been growing the business at 20% a year as experts in dispute avoidance but we see going into PM as a way to grow it quicker

Steve Driver, chief executive, Driver Group

The PM business, which has already started up, focuses on programme and commercial management.

Chief executive Steve Driver said: “We have been growing the business at 20% a year as experts in the dispute avoidance market but we see going into project management as a way to grow it quicker.”

For the nine months to June 2005, Driver’s turnover was £6.1m and pre-tax profit was £1.35m.

The new business strategy will diversify the firm’s profit stream and create opportunities for the disputes service.

Driver Group’s £2m was raised through placing 2,739,727 new ordinary shares. The shares were originally priced at 73p and had already gone up to 75p at the time of writing.