Helphire buys stake in Net company

- Shona Cronin
- 19 Jan 2000
- Indicative reading time: 1 minute

Helphire has acquired a 13.33% shareholding in Internet and software development company Intracus for...

Helphire has acquired a 13.33% shareholding in Internet and software development company Intracus for £2m, with the option to buy a further 4.33% for £1.3m by October 2000.
Intracus will now be involved in developing an interactive site for Helphire, designed to widen its range of user groups and business suppliers.
Michael J Symons, chief executive of Helphire, will become a non-executive director of Intracus and he and his team will assist the software company with a future flotation.
Intracus operates SmartGroups.com, which provides the facility to form free interactive groups for Internet and e-mail users. As part of the deal with Intracus, it will receive complimentary advertising to the value of £2.25m on the SmartGroups.com Internet service.
Intracus, formed in 1996, is based in Newbury and employs over 25 staff. It has a team of intranet and Internet software design engineers who have been involved in producing e-commerce solutions for several companies including Fleetlease, Eagle Star Direct and Waterstones Online.
Mr Symons said: "Use of the Internet and e-commerce are both growing with extraordinary speed. Compared to traditional advertising media such as television, the Internet offers a relatively inexpensive and focused communication medium with access to large numbers of users."
He added: "Accident management services, in which Helphire is the market leader, are still relatively little known. The investment allows access to both a rapidly growing user base of potential customers and to the resouces necessary to place the company in a market-leading position in Internet usage in the sectors in which it operates."

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