Nursery World - Major league

Which are the 20 largest nursery groups in the UK? Alison Mercer on who did what in the past six months. The leading nursery chains have gone from strength to strength in the past six months, with Leapfrog, the second largest, announcing its intention to float on the London Stock Exchange, private equity firm Alchemy - which tried unsuccessfully to buy Rover - entering the market and US provider Bright Horizons consolidating its presence in the UK.

The leading nursery chains have gone from strength to strength in the past six months, with Leapfrog, the second largest, announcing its intention to float on the London Stock Exchange, private equity firm Alchemy - which tried unsuccessfully to buy Rover - entering the market and US provider Bright Horizons consolidating its presence in the UK.

Alchemy came on to the scene just before Christmas, buying Just Learning in a deal worth 22m. Since then Just Learning has zoomed up our league table of the 20 largest chains from eighth place into the top five. The group has grown from 21 nurseries to 27, suggesting that Alchemy is in earnest with its stated target of expanding the group to at least 40 settings over the next five years - that's eight new nurseries a year.

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