Namesco

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Namesco Limited

Type	Private
Founded	(1996) (as Names.co Internet Services Ltd)
Headquarters	Worcester, UK
Key people	Kevin Savage, Managing Director Jason Smith, Operations Director Claudio Corbetta, Chairman
Industry	Internet
Products	Internet Services
Revenue	£14 Million
Employees	71 (March 2008)
Website	http://www.names.co.uk

Namesco Ltd is an Internet domain name and hosting service founded in 1996 as a small Internet setup named "Names.co Internet Services Limited" originally based in North East England.

In 1997 another setup was founded by Kevin Savage, Jason Smith and John Sewell named Phase8.com "Webcall.com Limited" based in Worcester.

In December 2000, following the dot com boom, Namesco became a Public Limited Company and floated on the London Unlisted Securities Market. In December 2001 Namesco Internet Plc acquired Phase8.com "Webcall.com Limited" for the sum of £2,300,000.

Despite acquiring smaller web hosting companies and resellers along the way such as SmartChoice on 1st April 2003 the "publicly quoted" Namesco struggled to be viable citing the increasingly competitive nature of the domain name and web hosting business, and the additional costs of maintaining listed status as the reasons for a lack of profitability.

Accordingly in January 2004 Namesco Internet PLC was the subject of a reverse takeover and its internet operations subject to a management buyout. The PLC "acquired" Larchland Limited for valuable mineral exploration rights and the business renamed as "Triple Plate Junction PLC."

Triple Plates accounts for 2004 reveal losses of GBP£84000, for the "Namesco" business prior to its disposal in January 2004. Indeed "Namesco" was hived down into a subsidiary and sold to "Womerah Limited." Womerah being the company connected to the outgoing board of directors, David Lees, Jason Smith and Kevin Savage.

Although Namesco had an annual turnover of over GBP£1.1M, Womerah acquired the subsidiary for a consideration of GBP£253,343 of which only GBP£100,000 was required as a cash payment, to be made in two staged payments GBP£50,000.

David Lees remained as a Director of both "Namesco Limited" and "Triple Plate Junction PLC." "TPJ" changed its activities to become a gold mining and exploration company with substantial activities in Vietnam.

The now privately owned Namesco had the extra cash and agility to begin buying businesses which was key to the growth strategy. On the 9th July 2004, Namesco acquired NamesWeb; a small domain and web hosting business.

On the 17th September 2004, Namesco Ltd was able to "double" the size of its internet business by acquiring a competitor, the local and profitable Malvern based "Simply.com Limited" from the Coulson family for GBP£2.15M. Simply.Com Limited managed 92,000 domain names.

On the 3rd March 2005, Namesco Ltd acquired the assets of domain and hosting business Net2 Ltd.

On the 19th July 2005, Namesco Ltd acquired the broadband business NDO Ltd. NDO also sold domain names, web hosting and dialup internet access. This acquisition allowed Namesco to offer it's customers ADSL at competitive prices and in August 2006 re-launched it's broadband offerings.

On the 18 July 2007, Namesco Ltd was purchased by Register.it Spa an Italian Internet company owned by Dada for £24.5million. Register.it also owns Nominalia in Spain and acquiring Namesco adds a substantial UK operation to to the division.

On 26 October 2007, Namesco Ltd acquired Xsession.com Limited, a company in administration since 23 July 2007^[1].

On 13 November 2007, Namesco Ltd acquired the assets of Serve360.com, a Domain Registration and Hosting company.

On 13 December 2007, Namesco Ltd acquired the assets of UKdomains.com, a domain registration and web Hosting company.

On 28th May 2008, Namesco Ltd acquired the assets of Register365, Irelands largest hosting provider, through its subsidiary Namesco Ireland Ltd, adding 40,000 domains to its already impressive portfolio.

[edit] Recent awards

Won the Best Shared Hosting Award from the ISPA Awards in 2008.^[2]
Finalist for Best Dedicated Hosting Award from the ISPA Awards in 2008.^[2]

2nd Best Small ISP Award from PC Advisor in 2007.^[3]

Finalist for Best Consumer Broadband Award from the ISPA Awards in 2007.^[2]
Finalist for Best Business Broadband Award from the ISPA Awards in 2007.^[2]
Finalist for Best Consumer Email Award from the ISPA Awards in 2007.^[2]
Finalist for Best Business Email Award from the ISPA Awards in 2007.^[2]

Won the Best Buy for Broadband Award from PC Advisor in 2006.^{[citation needed]}
Won the Best Customer Satisfaction Award from PC Advisor in 2006.^{[citation needed]}