THE FINANCIAL spread-betting company Worldspreads has applied to list its stock on the Dublin junior market, the IEX, where it is scheduled to begin trading on Thursday, May 15th.
The Dublin-based company, which takes wagers on the financial markets, floated on the Alternative Investment Market (AIM) in London last August.
It believes the Dublin listing will increase trading in its shares and make them more attractive to Irish institutional and retail investors who own about two-thirds of the company's shares.
Worldspreads chief executive Conor Foley said: "The listing on the IEX market offers a euro-denominated trading facility for these locally-based investors, which is significant, given present conditions in the currency markets."
The company raised £5.7 million (€8.6 million) from its 47p-a- share flotation last year and the shares have traded as high as 102p. The share price was up 0.8 per cent to 93p in London yesterday, valuing the company at more than £37 million.
Founded by Mr Foley and Brian O'Neill in 2000, Worldspreads has offices in London and Athens and joint ventures in Spain, Germany, Austria, Hungary and South Africa. Sales and profit before tax for the financial year to March 31st, 2007, are expected to exceed "original management expectations at the time of the IPO and current market expectations by a significant margin", as volatile stocks have encouraged betting.
The company records an average of more than 4,000 bets a day, compared to an average of 2,351 a day in the six months to September 30th, 2007, when it made a pretax profit of €1.31 million.
