Acquisitive high street gambling counter Talarius floated as a shell in April, raking in £5.5m to consolidate the adult gaming centre (AGC) market. Since then it has completed two acquisitions – the £39m reverse takeover of RAL and the £11m acquisition of Leisure Promotions. Talarius now owns and operates two brands, Quicksilver, a chain of 142 AGCs and interactive gaming website Cyberslotz. Talarius has also leapt to number one in the UK AGC market, with the largest slot machine estate on the high street. Chief executive Nick Harding today unveiled encouraging maiden interims for the period from float to 16 July, presented on a pro-forma basis. Turnover was £21.3m, up 7%, and operating profits were lifted 6% to £2.3m, and Harding reported strong trading and a positive outlook. He says Talarius will benefit from the Gambling Act, which will encourage further consolidation, with a number of smaller AGC estate owners likely to sell up at reasonable prices in a more tightly regulated and taxed industry. Since the half year, trading at the Quicksilver estate has continued to improve and the interactive business, profitable for over twelve months now, is growing well, with new games constantly being added. Harding is looking to develop a pipeline of new stores, but major acquisitions remain at the strategic core (signaled by the recent appointment of Marwyn Capital’s M&A-savvy Mark Watts as a non-executive). ‘I want to build Talarius into a mid-cap business with betting shops and bingo clubs as well,’ says Harding. Bold stuff. Buy.

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