Gaming firm makes UK market debut
A gaming firm which displays luxury cars at airports luring holidaymakers to compete to win them began trading on the London stock market today.
Best of the Best, the brainchild of 32-year-old William Hindmarch was listed on the Alternative Investment Market (AIM) with shares trading at 69.5p – giving it a market value of around £10m (€14.8m)
Rupert Garton, commercial director of the firm, said he did not expect the timing of the launch, several days after a major terror alert, to affect the business.
“We have been around for six years now, which has included September 11, July 7, and Sars,” he said. “These type of incidents are unfortunately a fact of life now and although business may be affected for one or two days it quickly recovers.”
Best of the Best was launched in July 2000 at Heathrow’s Terminal 4.
Punters take part in a spot-the-ball type competition with tickets priced at £60 (€89) for the chance to win an Aston Martin DB9 or Ferrari F430 among other prizes. For £10, entrants can win a motorbike.
Benefiting from the feel-good factor airports enjoy as people set off on their holidays and also from large numbers of business customers, the company was so successful that after six months operator BAA offered the firm a three-year contract and in 2002 acquired a 20% stake in the business.
The company has expanded into eight BAA airports as well as terminals at Manchester and Luton, while competitors are also able to take part in games online.
Best of the Best has recently raised £2m (€3m) to help finance new sites and increase online sales and marketing. It has been profitable for the past two years. Turnover increased by 29.6% in the year to April 30 and online sales by 100%.
Mr Garton said the company has plans to expand throughout the UK and once this was achieved expand overseas, possibly to Germany or France. It also wishes to introduce an instant win game.
Since its launch, 110 cars have been won valued in the region of £6.5m (€9.6m).
