Dixons confirms Freeserve For Sale option

9 May 2000 Shares in Dixons jumped 34p in early morning trading today following last night's announcement by the electrical retailer confirming it was considering selling its stake in Freeserve. Dixons was responding to mounting speculation that it was gearing itself up for the sale. Dixons owns 80 per cent of monster ISP, Freeserve, but is unable to dispose of its shares until August. A statement issued by the Dixons board said: "(Dixons) is considering its options in respect of its shareholding in Freeserve. These may or may not include a sale or distribution of all or part of its holding." Deutsche Telecom's T-Online has already been linked to the ISP as a possible buyer. So too has BT, although none has been confirmed.

William Baird, the clothing supplier, has bought 10 per cent of 9feet.com, the online retailer of sports and activity clothing. The deal, which will see Baird initially pay 1.2 million with an option to up its holding to 47 per cent during 2000, follows the loss of its contract to supply Marks & Spencer last October.

Lastminute.com plans to set up a South African Web site after a deal with Tourvest, South Africa's second biggest travel agency. The site adds to ventures in Australia and New Zealand, along with plans to start sites in Spain, the Netherlands and the US.

It was on, then off, and now its sounds like it's back on again. OneClickHR -- which creates human resource software -- said it is planning to float on AIM after all. In April, the e-outfit was valued at 40 million. Today, they reckon it's just half that. What a difference a month makes.

Sportingbet.com has acquired Betmaker.com for around 15 million, doubling its customer base to 43,000. Sportingbet is based in the Channel Islands and Betmaker in Costa Rica. Sportingbet is in an acquistive mood as it works towards becoming a global brand. It also intends to float on the London stock exchange at the end of this year.

Streetnames is looking to float on the AIM stock market and is hoping to raise around 3.2 million.The company, which offers domain names and email addresses using the names of streets, towns and cities, also announced a deal making Loot its first partner.