Codemasters, one of the UK’s leading video games developers, has flirted with flotation for years. Now, it hopes to fulfil that ambition and make its stock market debut next year, after being thwarted in 2008 by the general market turmoil.

“The company is in a position [to float],” says Rod Cousens, chief executive, “but the world closed its doors on us. But there is life after death – the public markets will rebound and whether in the latter half of 2009 or in early 2010 we will be ready.”