As foreshadowed by Growth Company Investor in May, franchise group Myhome International joins AIM tomorrow after a £4 million funding.

Myhome began life as the residential cleaning division of food-to-detergents conglomerate Unilever before Australian entrepreneur Russell O'Connell took it over. The company has expanded since then into other franchise areas, such as gardening maintenance and kitchen and bathroom surfaces refurbishment.

Myhome launched its shares onto Ofex, now the PLUS share market, where its shares have risen from below 15p to a current 65.5p (with a 5p spread), well above the 32.5p at which Growth Company Investor highlighted the speculative potential in May. In the year to October, the acquisitive company lifted pre-tax profits 329 per cent to £734,000 on 400 per cent increase in franchise network turnover to £13 million.

Two weeks before Christmas, a group of investors including Nigel Wray and Stephen Hemsley agreed to put £4 million of new money into the company at 40p — representing a comfortable 30 per cent discount to the then market price of 58.5p. They also agreed to accept warrants to subscribe up to a further £3 million at the same 40p price.

A move to AIM has often meant an immediate share price gain for companies exiting PLUS. Longer term, prospects depend on the Myhome's hitherto successful formula continuing to work.