Leapfrog jumps ahead of rivals

IN TIMES when many mothers go back to work after childbirth, it is not surprising to find nurseries are a £2bn business growing at 30% a year. Yet the fast-growing Leapfrog Day Nurseries will be the first chain of its kind to float on the Stock Exchange towards the end of next month.

Headed by chairman Derek Mapp, who ran Tom Cobleigh pubs, and managing director Sue Husbands, who was in charge of a small chain of nurseries in the West Midlands, it is seeking £30m through a placing that will value the business at up to £80m.

It wants to use the share quote to acquire smaller operators. Although a nipper itself at five years old, Leapfrog operates 34 nurseries, including four in London, and plans to add 10 in the current business year and between 10 and 15 a year after that.

Charging up to £200 a week to provide care for babies through to five-year-olds, it boasts sales of about £10m but has yet to make a profit. It takes a nursery six months to become profitable and two years to reach maturity.