WorldSpreads: IEX Listing Caters to Core Investors

WorldSpreads, the Dublin-based spread betting company, is awaiting a dual listing on the Irish Stock Exchange, but C.F.O. Niall O’Kelly suggested the company’s aim with the float is not to raise capital . . . exactly.

"The primary [reason] is that between 60 and 70 percent of all WorldSpreads shares are held by Irish individuals, by the management, who are Irish, or by various different funds within Ireland," Mr. O'Kelly told Interactive Gaming News.

Mr. O’Kelly said the euros-based listing in the company’s native Ireland could assist in attracting additional Irish institutions and investors.

”An Irish quote . . . may, again, increase their appetite and make our stock available where it otherwise might not have been,” he said.

WorldSpreads has been working with Bloxham, the investment services provider, toward a May 15 listing on the Irish Enterprise Exchange, which is a smaller arm of the Irish Stock Exchange that accommodates small to mid-sized companies.

While the company has done very well on London's Alternative Investment Market, raising £5.7 million, or $11.3 million, in a share placing at 47 pence through an August 2007 I.P.O., Mr. O'Kelly said because WorldSpreads is an Irish company, ownership wanted a listing on their home exchange.

"The Irish Stock Exchange has set up the IEX as a very complimentary stock exchange to AIM, which facilitates companies such as ourselves having dual listings without a huge amount of bureaucracy, money to be spent on advisors and time in terms of getting a secondary listing," he said.

WorldSpreads' first-quarter results are due out at the beginning of June.

Company shares on Friday were up 3p to 101 in London.