Australian listing to fund Seek's expansion plans

Expansion of its training and education business is behind job-search specialist Seek's listing on the Australian Stock Exchange.

The issue of between 75 and 85 million shares for between A$1.80 and A$2.20 would result in an offer size of A$150 million ($162.9 million) to A$170 million ($184.7 million).

A share buy-back is expected to result in a net capital increase of about A$25 million, with trading due to start on April 18.

The funds will primarily be used to enlarge the company's training and education business that amounts to 11 per cent of revenue.

Seek expects to generate revenue of A$90 million and net profit after tax of A$28.8 million for the year to June 30, 2006.

Executive director Andrew Bassat said the market for training services in Australia and New Zealand was potentially worth A$7 billion. "We'll continue to grow our employment business aggressively but that can be done with existing funds fairly comfortably.

"The additional cash ... will enable us to pursue further acquisitions to add to the two ... made in 2004," Bassat said.

Seek bought recruitment site NZJobs and online IT trainer SelfCert, since renamed Seek Learning.