South West entrepreneur Mike Love (pictured) was shortlisted last night for Grant Thornton's 2012 Chairman of the Year Quoted Company awards. Dr Love has grown a number of companies, including CODASciSys, which at its peak featured in the Top 50 companies on AIM. It was taken private by Unit4 Agresso in 2008 in a deal worth £160m, giving investors a return of more than five times their investment.
More recently, he has been involved as chairman and investor with three AIM listed companies, ClearStream Technologies Group, Dillistone Group and SciSys.
ClearStream was listed on AIM in 2005 with an initial market capitalisation of £13m and was acquired by the US pharmaceuticals giant CR Bard Inc in September in a deal valuing the company at £44m. London-based Dillistone is a global leader in the supply and support of recruitment software while SciSys specialises in information and communications technology services, e-business and a range of advanced technology. It has activities in Chippenham and Bristol serving a broad spectrum of market sectors including Media Broadcast, Space, Government & Defence, Environment and Applications Support.
Both companies continue to develop both organically and by acquisition – and both have recently posted strong first half results.
Dr Love, a former member of the London Stock Exchange AIM advisory board, said of his nomination: “I have been fortunate throughout my career to have worked alongside very good people; the current teams at both SciSys and Dillistone are amongst the very best that I have had the privilege to work with.”
