Parallel Media

Korea-focused sports events and management group Parallel Media plans expansion after a return to full-year profits.

The AIM-quoted company, which had lost £2.1m in 2007 and £270,000 in 2008, made a £65,000 pre-tax profit in 2009, on sales of £10.24m, spurred by its success in developing golf events in South Korea. Coming after a challenging recession, last year's results represent ‘a good year for the group', boasts chairman David Ciclitira, who was one of the founding members of SATV, later renamed Sky after Rupert Murdoch’s purchase.

Managing director Stewart Mison, a veteran marketing man, says Parallel, whose golf events in Korea include the flagship Ballantine’s tournament, is operating in a ‘rapidly growing market’. He explains, 'In Asia, golf is seen as an aspirational sport, and the region’s rapidly growing middle class are very keen on playing it.’ Parallel’s flagship tournament is broadcast worldwide and involves the world's top 200 players.

The company also operates a number of lower-profile but popular tournaments, including events sponsored by investment bank UBS, as well as a sports management business that manages the Italian rugby squad and Bolton and South Korean player Lee Chung-Yong, among others.

However, while the golf events may be a dream come true for golf fans, Parallel’s shares, which are an illiquid market at a pitiful 0.35p, are certainly not a dream come true for investors. Mison acknowledges that the company, which has debts of £3.36m, is ‘not on the radar of many share traders’.

Still, Parallel Media is expanding in a relatively strong South Korean economy and house broker Astaire is unsurprisingly enthusiastic. The shares are worth a speculative punt for the strong nerved, though they are strictly not for widows and orphans.