Sex sells as Aussie brothel goes public

DOWN under, they do things differently.

It’s all about rising to the occasion and the stock market success of an Australian brothel proves that when sex sells, the only way is up.

Dismissing the adage that business and pleasure don’t mix, the Daily Planet, the country’s first publicly-listed brothel, has almost doubled its share value since it began trading on the Australian Stock Exchange.

Shares were offered at A$0.50 cents each, and opened 40% higher at A$0.70. By late trading, shares were up 90% to A$0.95.

Chief executive Andrew Harris said the Melbourne-based brothel, which opened in 1975, raised A$3.5 in its initial public offering - with one shareholder forking out A$1 million.

The company plans to franchise the business in other Australian cities, and build a “sex Disneyland” in Sydney.

The flotation success was due in no small part to the helping hand of former Hollywood madam Heidi Fleiss.

“How can you go wrong with sex?” said Fleiss, while visiting Melbourne for the launch.

Ms Fleiss hit a sticky patch several years ago when investigators accused her of arranging liaisons with prostitutes for a number of Hollywood celebrities and other jet-setters.

She was released from prison in 1999 after serving 21 months for money laundering and tax evasion.

She was enlisted to promote the Daily Planet’s intention to float last summer after an abortive attempt nine years ago.

Mr Harris said it was the culmination of a delicate set of manoeuvres to make it possible for investors to back the project without getting caught by Australia’s Prostitution Control Act, which could mean prosecution for living off immoral earnings.

“We have never taken a cent in 30 years off a working girl,” said Mr Harris, who sees his firm as a crusading operation to change public attitudes to prostitution.

“We believe that women have a right to choose what they do with their bodies.

“We derive our profits from providing a very safe, high market, and high profile establishment in which they can work,” he said.