Spread betting firm to sell Irish arm to former managers for almost €10m

WORLDSPREADS, the financial spread betting and online share trading service, has reached agreement over the sale of its Irish division, for nearly €10 million, to some of its existing management team.

The IEX and AIM-listed firm, headed by Conor Foley, will sell the business to a consortium currently named Spreadbetting Ltd.

This is headed by former Worldspreads management figures Brian O’Neill and Fergus Rice.

Mr Rice has been involved with Worldspreads since its establishment in 2000 and headed the day-to-day running of its Dublin trading desk. Mr O’Neill, along with Conor Foley, is a co-founder of the company and its chief operations officer.

Under Spreadbetting Ltd, the duo will pay €9.9 million for the Irish arm, plus the proceeds from the placing of nearly 1.9 million existing Worldspreads ordinary shares.

In addition, Merrion Capital has purchased “a significant minority stake” in Worldspreads Ireland for an undisclosed sum.

Back in April, Worldspreads sold its sports spread betting division – Sports Spread Betting (Ireland) – for €250,000 to Mr Rice. It is understood the division will now be amalgamated into Spreadbetting Ltd.

Worldspreads offers spread trading and betting services on equities, commodities and currencies. Although it will remain headquartered in Dublin, its chief trading desk will be in London.

It is understood that the sale of the Irish arm came about through differing opinions between management over the strength of Irish and overseas markets.

“Inefficiencies” surrounding having two trading desks in the same time zone and a concern over the Irish business remaining buoyant during the weakening economy added to the reasoning.

The company has established a presence in Britain, Spain, Hungary and Greece and has recently entered Eastern Europe via Poland, the Czech Republic, Slovenia and Russia. Last month it reported a 40% increase in operating profits to €4.6m for the year to the end of March and a 39% rise in revenue to €14.9m.

Funds from the sale would go towards growing its British and international divisions, the company said.