- Namesco
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Namesco Limited 
Type Private Industry Internet Founded (1996) (as Names.co Internet Services Ltd) Headquarters Worcester, UK Key people Chirag Patel, Director
Sarah Bratchell, Director
Claudio Corbetta, ChairmanProducts Internet Services Revenue £14 Million Employees 81 (October 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 at around the same time.
In March 2000, following the dot com boom, Names.co Internet Services Limited became a Public Limited Company and floated on the London Unlisted Securities Market with a new name of Namesco Internet Plc. In December 2001, Namesco Internet Plc acquired Phase8.com "Webcall.com Limited" for the sum of £2,450,000.
Despite acquiring smaller web hosting companies and resellers along the way such as SmartChoice on 1 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 its customers ADSL at competitive prices, and in August 2006 it re-launched its 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 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 28 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 portfolio.
In August 2009 after 10 years both Founders and Board Directors Kevin Savage and Jason Smith both resigned from Namesco to focus on their new business, Ventutec Limited. This leaves as new Directors, Chirag Patel previously the Operations Manager and Sarah Bratchell previously the Finance Controller.
Recent awards
- Listed Finalists in UK's Best Shared Hosting provider at the Internet Service Providers (ISPA) awards 2011
- May 2009: Voted UK's Best Shared Hosting provider for the Second Year at the Internet Service Providers (ISPA) awards
- May 2009: Wins UK Web Hosting Directories Number One ‘Unix Web Hosting’ Award.
- April 2009: Wins WebHostDirectory’s Number One Award for Shared Hosting
- September 2008: Nominated for the PC Pro magazines Best Web Hosts Award 2008
- 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]
References
- ^ London Gazette (2007-08-07). "London Gazette Section 652". http://beta.gazettes-online.co.uk/ViewPDFContent.aspx?pdf=58414&geotype=London&gpn=11390&type=Issue. Retrieved 2007-11-08.[dead link]
- ^ a b c d e f ISPA (2008-03-14). "ISPA Awards List 2008". Archived from the original on 2008-03-01. http://web.archive.org/web/20080301220009/http://www.ispaawards.org.uk/categories/BestSharedHosting.htm. Retrieved 2008-03-18.
- ^ PC Advisor (2007-07-01). "PC Advisor Awards List 2007". http://www.pcadvisor.co.uk/news/index.cfm?NewsID=10255. Retrieved 2007-11-08.
External links
- Namesco website
- Phase8 website
- Namesco Business profile at business.com
- Namesco buys Simply.com at The Register
- Ofcom Consumer Complaint about Namesco Terms and Conditions (Since Resolved)
- Namesco offers free broadband
- Official website of Triple Plate Junction PLC
- DaDa buys Namesco for 24.5 million at ISP Spy
- Ventutec official website
Categories:- Internet service providers of the United Kingdom
- Companies based in Worcester
- Companies established in 1996
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