It was almost as if the dotcom crash had never happened yesterday as a technology company that has yet to produce its first commercial product but is backed by a billionaire, saw its shares rise by almost a third on their stock market debut.
Shares in Newport Networks ended the day at 93.5p after being placed by Evolution Beeson Gregory at 71p each.
The shares topped £1 at one point in early dealings and in vestor demand for the stock was so strong that the issue, which raised £27m, is understood to have been about nine times oversubscribed.
Newport, set up in September 2000, has developed technology that enables voice calls to be made over the internet - something known as voice over internet protocol or VOIP - for significantly less than a traditional phone call.
The technology has been around for years but is only now gaining acceptance with telecoms companies and other prospective operators such as internet service providers.
Cable operators in the US are already offering Voip services while companies this side of the Atlantic, from BT and Wanadoo to start-up Skype, are either already using the technology or plan to in the near future.
Newport reckons its product - to be released in July - solves many of the technical problems, usually centred on quality of service, that have plagued early Voip applications.
Although the time for the technology may have come much of the success of yesterday's float is due to the involvement of Welsh billionaire Sir Terry Matthews.
In 1986 Sir Terry, Newport's non-executive chairman, founded Newbridge Networks, which grew to become a communications technology heavyweight. He sold it to Alcatel at the height of the tech boom in 2000 for $7.1bn (£4bn). Newport's chief executive John Everard worked for Newbridge for more than 10 years.
In a note on the flotation yesterday Charles Stanley analyst Ian Mitchell added a note of caution: "The final remaining question surrounds whether the float will capture the imagination of investors excited by the potential for Voip.
"However, being asked to consider that question, combined with the lack of products and revenues in the flotation of a company hoping to take advantage of an emerging technology, will have a familiar ring to investors still recovering from the excesses of 2000."
