Twitter could be worth £7bn if flotation were to go ahead

New York specialist financial researchers Greencrest claim the microblogging site is already preparing to take the company public next year (Getty)

Twitter could value up to £7 billion if it goes public next year, according to a financial research firm.

This comes after disappointing recent initial public offerings (IPOs) for other tech giants Facebook and games maker Zynga.

Facebook's shares are down 26 per cent since its much-hyped IPO, while Zynga's value has dropped by 75 per cent.

New York specialist financial researchers Greencrest claim the microblogging site is already preparing to take the company public next year.

Max Wolff, a Greencrest analyst, told Forbes that Twitter's value is up since Facebook went public last year and that Twitter's value has also been swollen by speculation that Apple is interested in acquiring the company.

A funding round in 2011 valued Twitter at $8bn, after which the value rose to $10bn on secondary markets before Facebook's IPO pushed the value back down to $9bn.

Wolff added: “Growth in users and new monetisation efforts are both yielding fruit and pointing toward a good 2013 for Twitter.”

Twitter's chairman, Jack Dorsey, has said the firm would go public “when we feel the company is ready for that milestone.”