Bets on for Playtech success

Investors in Britain placed their bets on the success of gaming software designer Playtech today as its shares rose strongly following a £548m (€794.4m) flotation.

Playtech, which was founded in 1999 and counts the Tote and BetFred among its customers, raised £265m (€384m) after placing more than 103 million shares at 257p each.

But this was not enough to satisfy demand as Playtech said investors were willing to buy five times as many shares as were on offer at the time of its flotation.

As a result, shares in Playtech rose 7% to 247p on its first day of dealings on the Alternative Investment Market (AIM).

Playtech has designed platforms that support 94 online casinos, 15 web poker rooms and 15 internet bingo sites after growing the number of licensees from two to 39 over the past five years.

Revenues have grown from around $12.9m (£7.4m/€10.7m) in 2003 to $47.6m (£27.2m/€39.4m) last year, while profits are up more than four-fold to $35.6m (£20.3m/€29.5m).

Chief executive Avigur Zmora said: “The outstanding interest in Playtech’s shares from both US and UK investors is a clear endorsement of the company’s offering.”

Playtech is following the footsteps of internet gaming firms such as PartyGaming, 888 Holdings and Empire Online which created one of the stories of the London stock market last year by listing in quick succession.