Hospitality and leisure recruitment firm Berkeley Scott plans to float on the AIM stock market to fund its expansion into new sectors.

A company statement said that the initial public offering (IPO) – which is due to be completed by the end of November – would “broaden awareness of the group, incentivise staff and facilitate the group’s strategy of expansion by acquisition and organic growth”.

It has set its sights on other service-oriented sectors such as retail, consumer goods, facilities management, travel and tourism.

Berkeley Scott’s chief executive Roddy Watt (pictured far right) told Recruiter: “We plan to grow our core business organically but we will be making stepping stone acquisitions to enter these new sectors.”

He added that after several difficult years he felt now was a good time to seek a listing as there was plenty of evidence that the recruitment market was moving in the right direction.

“What to me is exciting about this is that a company that has grown from scratch in one generation off the back of one industry sector is now in a position to float on AIM. That is a strong indicator of a healthy recruitment industry,” said Watt.

The company is expected to announce an increase in sales of 15% to £16.1m for the 12 months ended 30 September 2004.

Berkeley Scott is also planning to extend its UK coverage by opening new offices in Belfast, Newcastle, Guildford, Dublin and Liverpool.

As part of the IPO, Jeremy Hamer becomes chairman of Berkeley Scott after four years as a non-executive director. With his public company experience, Watt said: “[Hamer] is ideally positioned to guide us through the transition into a public company and beyond.”