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Betbrokers to flutter onto AIM

Intermediary betting services group Betbrokers plans to float on AIM, despite recent controversy hanging over the online gaming industry. The company is the first in the UK to offer a confidential brokering service in the sports betting market to both ‘wholesale’ and ‘retail’ clients – bookmakers and the average gambler on the street – taking a three per cent commission on each stake.

Punters can expect to see Betbrokers on AIM next month, where it hopes to raise £5 million of new money and achieve a valuation of around £45 million. Former Formula 1 team boss Eddie Jordan is to join the board as a non-executive director under chairman and chief executive Wayne Lochner, and City broker Hanson Westhouse will handle the float.

Offerings in the offing

Green cleaning products play Biocare Solutions arrived on AIM today. The company, which produces household cleaning products with plant-based ingredients ‘from nature’s laboratory’, raised around £6.25 million through a placing of 31.25 million ordinary shares at 20p. KBC Peel Hunt Ltd is acting as nominated adviser and broker to the company, which begins trading with a market capitalisation of £18.3 million.

Looking ahead, Tuesday hosts the first day of dealing for iPoint-media, which has developed a suite of software products to enable video calling over 3G mobile telephone networks. The company are not expecting to raise any money, and has appointed John East & Partners as Nomad and broker.

Real estate fund management group Invista, which boasts £8 billion of assets under its management, should join AIM this Friday. The company currently manages the real estate assets in 15 funds across the retail, office, industrial and residential sectors and is looking to raise a hefty £100 million via a placing, with the help of broker and adviser JP Morgan Cazenove.

Expecting results

Investors should look out for a strong maiden set of figures from Hollywood film production and distribution play Seven Arts Pictures today. Profits before tax are reported at £975,955 on revenues of £9 million, with basic earnings of 4.7p per share – a bargain in the eyes of some Square Mile commentators, especially with newly acquired titles expected to boost revenues during the year. The shares closed on Friday at 10p, but the City has responded accordingly sending them up a huge 375 per cent to 47.5p today.

Elsewhere, cakes and bread manufacturer Finsbury Food will announce full-year figures to June tomorrow. Expectations from the City are that revenues will be up around 30 per cent at £75.83 million, but like-for-like profits before tax may be down to £2.13 million – a 67 per cent fall. However, a recent trading update from the company said that ‘profit before tax and exceptional items for the year to June 2006 will exceed current market forecasts’.

Lastly, Genus, provider of bull semen to the agricultural technology sector, will be reporting full year figures to June on Wednesday. Forecasts suggest that pre-tax profit will increase more than ten-fold to 14.1 million, alongside a revenue boost of 24 per cent to £221.50 million and EPS of 16.1p. This follows the integration of biotechnology specialist Sygen International, acquired in March for £187 million.