A COMPANY that makes technology to monitor the quality and quantity of beer in pubs made £7m to pay off debt and chase new business as it floated on London's junior stock market yesterday.

Stockton-based Brulines floated with a market capitalisation of £29.5m on the Alternative Investment Market yesterday morning.

The group had intended to float in June, but postponed the move due to volatile market conditions.

The company has created more than 30 jobs since May and hopes to boost its workforce by another 15 to 20 next year to tie in with growth.

The cash raised from the flotation will pay off debt and enable the company to grow both organically, and through acquisitions.

It currently employs more than 170 staff. About half are based at its Stockton head office and the other half are engineers and account managers in the field.

Brulines' products monitor the amount of beer from barrel to glass, preventing tenants creaming off any beer profits.

The company is the market leader and its equipment is currently in 17,000 pubs. It counts pub companies, including Punch Taverns and Enterprise Inns, as its main customers.

Chief executive James Dickson told The Northern Echo: "Our main priority is to look into new markets here in the UK. We dominate the tenanted sector, but have products to make an impact within the management sector.

"There are effectively 130,000 pubs and bars we are not in so that is a huge potential marketplace."

He said Brulines' newest product, which measures beer quality, is expected to be a major driver of growth.

Brulines was the subject of a management buyout in May last year and in the year to March 31, posted £12m worth of sales and £2.7m in operating profits