There were no Googles in the bunch, but six Georgia companies went public for the first time in 2004 as the pace of initial public offerings, or IPOs, picked up on Wall Street.

Google, of course, is the Internet search engine that went public last summer as one of the highest of high-profile IPOs in Wall Street history.

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After a dozen Georgia IPOs in 2000 — the last big year — the pace of new offerings slumped to one each in 2001 and 2003, and none in 2002, before last year's six.

The IPOs had languished in a bad market, a weak economy and the geopolitical aftereffects of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.

None of these companies was included in the universe of public companies from which the Georgia 100 list was taken, since they were not independent for a full year.

IPO firms a varied bunch

Georgia's latest IPO list includes a billion-dollar company, in market value: Atlanta-based Gold Kist (ticker symbol GKIS), a poultry production, processing and marketing company with operations in Georgia, Florida, Alabama and the Carolinas.

Gold Kist went public on Oct. 6, 2004, on the Nasdaq National Market.

HomeBanc (HMB), also an Atlanta company, is a real estate investment trust that specializes in residential mortgage banking, with a focus on single-family and small apartment mortgage loans.

HomeBanc's stock offering came July 13 on the New York Stock Exchange.

BlueLinx Holdings (BXC), another Big Board company, is the largest distributor of building products in the United States, including plywood, lumber and other, more specialized wood products, such as insulation, molding, engineered wood and vinyl.

Spun off from Georgia-Pacific as part of that company's shift in product and marketing strategy, Atlanta-based BlueLinx went public on Dec. 13.

Inhibitex (INHX) is the tech — or rather biotech — entry among last year's IPOs, developing and commercializing antibody-based products for the prevention and treatment of bacterial and fungal infections in hospital settings.

The company, based in Alpharetta, went public June 3, 2004, on the Nasdaq.

Atlantic Coast Federal Corp. (ACFC) is the holding company for the Atlantic Coast Federal savings and loan thrift in Waycross, which serves southeast Georgia and metropolitan Jacksonville.

A Nasdaq company, Atlantic Coast Federal invests mainly in first mortgage loans on single-family residences, as well as auto and consumer loans.

Neenah Paper (NP), another wood products company and also a spinoff — in this case from Kimberly-Clark Corp. (KMB) — went public Dec. 6 on the New York Stock Exchange. Neenah Paper manufactures and distributes premium and specialty grades of paper and bleached craft paper, with operations in Canada and the United States.

Two companies have gone public so far in 2005.

Tri-S Security (TRIS), an Alpharetta company that provides contract guard services to federal government agencies, went public Feb. 9 on the Nasdaq Small-Cap Market.

Citi Trends (CTRN) in Savannah is a discount retailer that sells what it refers to as "quality, branded merchandise for men, women and children, including products from nationally recognized brands." The company's public offering on the Nasdaq came May 17.

How they've done since IPOs

So far this year, three of the six stocks that went public last year have fallen in price, although the market has been kinder to them in the second quarter.

While the IPO market continues to expand, including the possibility the New York Stock Exchange will go public, the environment has turned cautious this year.

According to Bloomberg News, which tracks IPOs, two deals have been canceled in Georgia this year and three are pending.

Overall, about 70 IPOs have occurred nationwide during first five months of 2005.

The main factor in the timing of IPOs is the economy, which has continued to expand in 2005 despite the Federal Reserve's policy of raising interest rates and the high price of oil.

But profit growth, while decidedly slower than last year, is expected to be favorable for the market in general, analysts say.

During the years, Georgia has been prolific in creating new public companies, including some of the biggest: Beazer Homes USA in 1994, EarthLink in 1996, ChoicePoint in 1997 as a spinoff from Equifax, and Marine Products in 2001 as a spinoff from RPC Inc.