A point-of-service software specialist for the postal industry is tipped to make a return to the London Stock Exchange, according to a Sky News report.
Ireland-incorporated Escher Group, which has software contracts with the US postal service and previously the UK Post Office, was taken private in 2018.
It floated on the AIM junior market in 2011, raising US$25 million at a placing price of 170p.
Escher made a US1.8 million profit In its latest reporting period for the year ending 31 December 2022. The company had net assets of US$21.4 million.
According to the Sky News report, the London listing could occur before the end of the year, though more likely in 2025.
The IPO could raise eyebrows due to Escher’s involvement in the Post Office Horizon scandal.
Escher’s software system Riposte was used for over-the-counter Post Office transactions in the 2000s as an interface between point-of-sale and the Horizon back-of-house software developed by Fujitsu.
Escher was frequently mentioned in the Alan Bates v Post Office legal proceedings, including a 2019 judgement concerning the operation and functionality of the Horizon system itself, though the group was not accused of any wrongdoing.
Justice Fraser described Riposte as “the facility for reliable replication of data between the branches and the back-office or data centres/campuses".
Failings of Fujitsu's Horizon software led to hundreds of wrongful convictions of sub-postmasters between 1999 and 2015 after the system inaccurately calculated cash balances they held.
The scandal, which has been ongoing for twenty years, was brought to front and centre this year in the television programme ‘Mr Bates vs the Post Office’, which sparked a public outcry about how the sub-postmasters had been treated.