Spread betting firm sells Irish arm to management

Spread betting firm Worldspreads has agreed to sell its Irish arm to the local management team, the company said in a statement today.

Worldspreads, which enables clients place spread bets on a range of securities in financial markets, operates in Dublin and London.

It said that in deciding to sell its Irish arm it had taken into account the "inefficient" maintenance of two fully fledged and separately regulated trading desks in the same time zone.

It was also concerned that the weak Irish economy would affect the performance of the Irish business, and had begun exploring a rationalisation process when local management in Ireland suggested a buyout.

The company said the move would deliver many of the savings that it was looking for without the expense associated with a costly redundancy programme and without the staff of the Irish business losing their jobs.

Under the terms of the deal, the company formed by management members will buy the operation for approximately €9.9m in cash as well as proceeds from the placing of 1,885,579 existing WorldSpreads ordinary shares.

In a statement, the company said the sale would "considerably strengthen" the group’s balance sheet and financial position and provide additional resources to expand in international markets.