Eckoh board considers £50m bid

The voice recognition specialist Eckoh Technologies is believed to have received a takeover approach that could end the company's turbulent six-and-a-half-year history as a listed company and value it at more than £50m. The group, which started life running sport, music and lifestyle websites, is understood to be considering the offer and to have started the process of consulting its shareholders.

The AIM-listed Eckoh boasts Gartmore Investment Management as its biggest shareholder. Others include Herald Investment Management, the Swiss bank UBS, Fidelity and Cavendish Asset Management. Together they control about a third of the group.

Eckoh floated in December 1999, when the City was gripped by dot.com mania. The brainchild of journalist and sports broadcaster Danny Kelly, the group then was called 365 Corp. On its stock market debut it saw its shares double to 320p, from an issue price of 160p, to value the company at more than £550m.

When it failed to make a profit from websites it moved into the business of running premium rate chatlines and then settled on developing speech recognition technology. In this line of business, it has had some success and supplies its software to major cinema chains, utilities and mobile phone companies.

In June, the group posted a strong set of annual results. Adjusted profits for the year ending 31 March 2006 rose to £2.3m from £800,000. Eckoh recently netted £11m from the sale of its controlling stake in Symphony Telecom to rival carrier Redstone. The deal took its cash pile to nearly £25m. On Friday, Eckoh shares closed at 13.25p, valuing the company at £36m.