The ESI Web site enables a range of services and tools to be offered on-line to the private investor world-wide. For the first time UK shares can be bought and sold directly over the Internet through an authorised stockbroker. It is the aim of the company to "demystify" the whole process of dealing in stocks and enable the general public to buy and sell shares cheaply using the Internet.

    The ESI site provides the investor with:

• access to real-time stockmarket prices
• comprehensive information about companies
• on-line dealing facilities
• personal share management

This innovative service is the brainchild of Herman Hauser, founder of Acorn. The service operates at several levels. There is a free section of the site which offers share prices for the country's top 300 shares, updated eight times a day. Subscription services enable investors to buy and sell shares via their home computer with real-time share prices as well as allowing them to place orders with electronic brokers, Sharelink.

The site gets more than 1m hits each week and growth potential is huge. Its innovative use of the WWW earned ESI the grand prize at the '96 BT/Sunday Times Superhighway Awards. ESI is wholly independent. It is not owned, funded or influenced by any financial services organisation.