Easy does it

Revenue at Internet service provider (ISP) Easynet Group plc is expected to rocket by 120 per cent to £16.5 million this year, according to institutional brokers Henderson Crosthwaite. Hendersons is predicting that revenue will reach £27 million with pre-tax profits of £2 million next year and is advising investors to buy. The bullish forecast comes after the company became profitable for the first time month-on-month this summer. The company is still expected to make a small loss of around £200,000 this year. "Easynet is seeing strong growth in all markets," said Chris Godsmark, telecoms analyst at Hendersons. "And since the market is growing incredibly fast any company in good shape is going to do well." Easynet supplies Internet access and service management to 5000 corporate customers generating average revenue per customer of £1900. And although Easynet is strong in the SME market, it has also notched up a number of corporate clients including Disney, Microsoft and Reed Elsevier. In the consumer market, Easynet has around 50,000 customers -- an increase of 8000 since the beginning of the year. Earlier this year, Easynet paid £1.55 million for a German ISP with the same name, which is being written off over ten years. The German company currently turns over £50,000 a month with similar losses per month although Hendersons predicts that its monthly revenues will double next year. ®