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Turftrax, a company whose tracking technology provides ‘real-time positional’ information during races for the benefit of punters, bookies and broadcasters, has made an uncertain start on AIM, initially falling more than 22 per cent to 31.25p. But that has not dented the confidence of its chief backer, City tycoon Michael Spencer of inter-dealer broker ICAP, nor of its chairman, Adam Mills, the former number two at National Express Group.

Spencer’s IPGL company holds 38 per cent of Turftrax, whose managing director is Mark Kent, formerly of Arena Leisure. Turftrax, which lost £3 million in the year to last March and another £924,000 in the six months to September, raised £14.6 million privately before joining AIM at the end of last month with a £3.2 million placing at 40p, handled by broker and nominated adviser Newlands Securities.

That put a value of £17.6 million on the Salisbury-based company, whose tracking system comprises a ‘Mobile Tag’, placed in the saddle cloth of each horse in a race. Turftrax, which has supplied data to both the BBC and Channel 4, also operates the ‘Pricer’, generating continuously updated fixed-odds prices for each horse during a race.

There was concern ahead of the float when one Dubai institutional backer decided that this was an inappropriate investment. But it was reallocated within that group and, insists Turftrax, all is well.