[London, ENGLAND] With dealings set to begin on August 30,
Stilo International plc
becomes the first U.K. XML specialist to float on AIM,
the Alternative Investment Market of the London Stock
Exchange.
Founded in 1995, Stilo develops tools such as XMLDeveloper
which it introduced in February this year to help e-commerce
and other Web developers create applications in eXtensible
Mark-up Language — the acknowledged successor to HTML.
Shares in Stilo were placed at 50 pence (75 cents), raising
US $13.5 million and valuing the company at over US $31 million.
Stilo’s Chief Executive Les Burnham said that XML is set to
underpin the vast majority of e-commerce applications over
the coming years. XMLDeveloper, he said, would speed up
development times and enable substantial cost savings to be
made.
“We estimate that Stilo is six to nine months ahead of the
competition in the U.K., and floating on AIM will help us to
fulfill our plans to become a leading global supplier of XML
software, training and consultancy,” said Burnham.
Stilo is currently working with Microsoft to deliver joint
corporate XML training programs. It also has a technology
partnership with e-business specialist eXcelon Corporation.
Among Stilo’s customers are Volkswagen of America, U.S Government
Printing Office, Andersen Consulting, and the European Union.
Computer software giant EDS called on Stilo to speed
up the XML message testing process on EDS’s project to
create an Internet filing service for U.K. tax returns.
The importance of XML has even reached the highest echelons
of government, with Patricia Hewitt, the U.K. minister responsible
for e-commerce, saying at a recent conference: “XML will be
at the heart of Government e-commerce strategy.”
