Dunn coaches on road to a float

ALMOST 20 years since Bob Dunn and his wife Carol set up their coach business with a second mortgage on their home, the couple plan to float the company on the Alternative Investment Market.

Dunn-line, which operates 113 bus and coaches from depots in Nottinghamshire and Durham and employs 320, plans to raise £2m when it comes to the market in a few weeks.

The company operates routes for local authorities and coach company National Express as well as its own private hire operations, and is expected to be valued at between £5.5m and £6.5m.

Dunn, the 50-year-old chief executive who owns the business and is not selling any shares, is expected to use the cash raised from the placing of new shares at 3p each to bolster the balance sheet and help fund organic growth and acquisitions.

The group's adviser is City Financial Associates. Broker to the float is Seymour Pierce Ellis.