INTERNET search company Infoserve has announced plans for a £9m flotation to fund expansion plans that include the creation of more than 150 jobs on Teesside.

Infoserve is based in Leeds but has the majority of its staff in a sales centre in Stockton. It has developed products for the local search market.

It will float on London's junior stock market, the Alternative Investment Market next month.

The company was founded in 1999 by David Hood, the entrepreneur behind Pace Micro Technologies, which makes set-top boxes, and two of his former colleagues, Derek Oliver and Steve Barnes.

Infoserve has trebled its workforce to more than 120 in the past year, with 90 of those staff in Stockton.

It is in the process of recruiting another 20 staff a month, and by March next year, plans to have a total of 500 workers, inluding 250 at Stockton.

Infoserve's product is a hybrid of a local search engine and online business directory.

Its key market is small and medium-sized businesses, which often find it difficult to gain prominence with search engines, such as Google.

Infoserve said it had started an investment programme to drive growth in the business in January last year, which will continue through to the end of next year.

It hopes to raise £9m from the flotation to expand its sales operations, invest in software development and repay debt.

Infoserve managing director Steve Barnes said: "Our aim is to become the market-leading local search company in the UK.

"To achieve our vision, we are constantly developing our technology.

"We believe that we already have the most comprehensive local business data, comprising over 2.7 million UK businesses, together with excellent technology."

New clients include the 192 directory, the Football League and The Metro free newspaper, as well as the BBC Radio Times, Daily and Sunday Telegraph, Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday.

Infoserve makes money by charging a fee of about £200 for businesses to be listed in a local search.

The company is working with US computer firm Oracle to develop a product that will provide local searches when Sky relaunches its digital satellite TV service.