Sapan Gai, CCO at Sovereign Metals, discusses their superior graphite test results. Watch the video here.

Less Ads, More Data, More Tools Register for FREE

Pin to quick picksGfinity Regulatory News (GFIN)

Share Price Information for Gfinity (GFIN)

London Stock Exchange
Share Price is delayed by 15 minutes
Get Live Data
Share Price: 0.03
Bid: 0.025
Ask: 0.035
Change: 0.00 (0.00%)
Spread: 0.01 (40.00%)
Open: 0.03
High: 0.03
Low: 0.03
Prev. Close: 0.03
GFIN Live PriceLast checked at -

Watchlists are a member only feature

Login to your account

Alerts are a premium feature

Login to your account

Admission to AIM and First Day of Dealings

22 Dec 2014 08:00

RNS Number : 3877A
Gfinity PLC
22 December 2014
 

22 December 2014

 

Gfinity plc

("Gfinity" or "the Company")

 

Admission to AIM and First Day of Dealings

Oversubscribed placing raises £3.5 million

 

Gfinity, a leading eSports business, is pleased to announce the Admission to trading on the AIM market of the London Stock Exchange of its entire issued share capital, and the commencement of dealings, at 8.00 a.m. GMT today under the ticker code GFIN (ISIN number: GB00BT9QD572). Upon Admission, the Company will have 77,845,150 ordinary shares in issue, giving Gfinity a market capitalisation of approximately £13.2 million at the Placing Price.

 

Highlights

 

· The Company has successfully raised £3.5 million before costs and expenses via the placing of 20,588,235 new Ordinary Shares (the "Placing") at a price of 17 pence per share (the "Placing Price").

· Gfinity organises and hosts eSports tournaments attended by leading international players and teams, and hosts a popular website on which eSports enthusiasts can compete against or view competitors playing a range of hugely popular electronic games such as Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare, Counter Strike: Global Offensive (CS:GO), FIFA 2015, StarCraft and League of Legends.

· The net proceeds of the Placing are intended to be used to pursue the expansion of the business and to support its 2015 event schedule.

· The Placing and Admission will support the Company in its aim to create the UK's premier eSports arena and strengthen the position of gfinity.net as the premium hub for gaming news, content and interaction, and will also provide continued marketing spend in order to grow the registered user base.

 

Arden Partners plc is acting as the Nominated Adviser and Broker to Gfinity and acted as sole book runner for the Placing.

 

Neville Upton, Co-founder and Chief Executive Officer of Gfinity, said: "We are delighted to be joining AIM and reaching another significant milestone for the Company. The listing will not only enhance our credibility and profile but enable us to capitalise on the growth in eSports. As the first UK eSports Company to list on AIM, Gfinity is well placed to take advantage of the rapidly increasing demand for eSports. We would like to thank our new investors and all those who expressed an interest, and look forward to updating them on our progress as we continue to grow."

 

Information on Gfinity

 

Gfinity is a leading UK-based eSports company serving, in co-operation with games publishers, a rapidly-growing community of on-line gamers worldwide. Founded in September 2012, the Company has established a popular on-line brand, gfinity.net, where gamers can compete, socialise and enjoy a wide range of content relating to electronic games on a proprietary technology platform. This platform enables Gfinity to run a regular roster of on-line competitions, leagues and ladders with the opportunity for gamers to enter and potentially win substantial prize money and/or pit their skills against professional and widely-followed ''star'' players.

 

Gfinity registered users can enter these events and competitions either without charge or on a pay-to-enter basis. In addition Gfinity hosts live tournaments, the most recent of which was G3, an event that attracted 3,830 ticket paying spectators and achieved 8.7 million on-line views over a single weekend. These events are based around several of the industry's best selling games such as Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare, FIFA 2015, CS:GO, StarCraft and Halo.

 

Gfinity has quickly become a widely-recognised "destination" for gamers in the UK and internationally, typically aged 18 - 34 years old. The growing user base - growth in registered user base increased from 43,387 as at 30 June 2014 to approaching 300,000 in December - and the demographic of Gfinity's audience, together with the sheer numbers who view Gfinity's events online, provide brand owners and advertisers with an attractive environment in which to promote their products and services, as well as offering Gfinity the opportunity to generate significant revenues over the long term.

 

Copies of the Company's admission document (dated 16 December 2014) are available on the Gfinity website: www.gfinityplc.com

 

Enquiries

 

Gfinity plc

 

Neville Upton, Chief Executive Officer

Jonathan Hall, Finance Director

+44 330 223 0860

 

 

Arden Partners plc - Nominated Adviser and Broker

 

Chris Hardie, Ciaran Walsh, Michael McNeilly

(Corporate Finance)

Catherine Miles, Kam Bansil (Corporate Broking)

+44 20 7614 5900

 

 

Luther Pendragon - Public Relations

 

Neil Thapar, Alexis Gore, Oliver Hibberd, Andy Johnson

+44 20 7618 9100

 

Background Information

 

Industry overview and market potential

 

Developments in technology have provided a platform for multiplayer interactive gaming and eSports is a high growth market amongst what is already a significant game playing population. In 2011, Twitch TV launched an online streaming platform, which enabled viewing of live and recorded gaming action. By 2013, Twitch reported that its viewers were watching 12 billion minutes of video streaming per annum on its platform, and Twitch currently has 55 million viewers per month. Other streaming platforms in this market include YouTube, Daily Motion and MLG.

 

In its Digital Game Brief (April 2014) Super Data Research reported that during 2013:

 

· 71.5 million people globally viewed eSports during the year; double the total for 2012; and

· the total prize fund for competitions reached $25 million, an increase of 350 per cent. in just 4 years.

 

To further illustrate the growing popularity of eSports:

 

· the League of Legends Season 3 World Championship in 2013 was attended by 18,000 people in the Staples Centre in Los Angeles. This event sold out in one hour and also achieved32 million on-line views, including a peak concurrent viewership of 8.5m;

· a 2014 Defence of the Ancients (DotA) event, 'The International', in the USA saw a prize pot of just under $11m, the largest prize fund yet secured for an eSports event; and

· the League of Legends Season 4 World Championships in 2014 held in South Korea sold out a stadium of over 40,000 spectators.

 

As if to reflect the move of eSports towards the mainstream, in 2013, the USA started to grant visas to eSports participants, under their visa category reserved for 'internationally recognised athletes.'

 

Strategy for growth

 

In the past 12 months, the Company has put in place a number of building blocks from which it intends to expand its business and enhance its revenue earning ability. These include hosting the G3 event, re-launching the website, launching YouTube channels and building the management team.

 

On 11 December 2014, Gfinity entered into a two-year sales and marketing contract with Pitch International for Pitch to package and sell sponsorship and broadcasting rights on the Company's behalf. Pitch is a leading sports marketing agency and distributor of sports media rights worldwide.

 

Key strengths and opportunities

 

The Directors believe that Gfinity has a number of key strengths and future opportunities available which are important to the success of the business:

 

Reputation and brand recognition

The Directors believe that Gfinity has established a good reputation with professional and recreational gamers in a relatively short period of time. It has achieved this through management's experience of gaming, the infrastructure it provides at events such as the rules and supervision, and through its website. This is demonstrated by the quality of top professional teams, such as Optic Gaming, EnVyUs and Ninjas in Pyjamas who have participated in on-line and off-line events.

 

Technology Gfinity has invested significant sums in the creation and development of an up-to-date gaming relevant website which has increased users from 43,387 as at 30 June 2014 to approaching 300,000 at the time of Admission. It has also invested in a studio in Kingston at which events can be held and streamed.

 

Tournament platform The Directors believe that Gfinity has developed a tournament platform that is superior to its competitors, using the experience and know-how of management as well as financial investment.

 

Strong management team - experienced commercially and in gaming

Gfinity's management team contains a blend of people with strong commercial experience and those with a deep insight in gaming. Chief Executive and co-founder Neville Upton set up his previous business, The Listening Company, and grew it to a turnover of over £80m prior to its sale to Serco.

 

Brand Ambassadors

The Directors believe that having popular YouTubers as brand ambassadors for Gfinity brings additional credibility to the Company within the gaming community and with potential sponsors. Gfinity collaborates in particular with KSI and Ali-A, who have over 7.5 million and over 5 million subscribers respectively on YouTube.

 

Relationships with publishers of games

Gfinity has run events encompassing a broad range of games rather than being tied to a particular publisher. The Directors believe that Gfinity has established credibility with publishers by successfully delivering events over a broad range of games. These relationships mean that Gfinity is not reliant on any single publisher.

 

Board of Directors

 

Tony Collyer, Non-Executive Chairman

 

Tony is a qualified Chartered Accountant with broad commercial experience and finance director experience in three public companies: Allders plc, New Look Group plc and The Corporate Services Group plc.

 

Neville Upton, Chief Executive Officer

 

After qualifying as a Chartered Accountant, Neville joined Euromoney where he gained experience in Finance and M&A. In 1998 he established a call centre business, The Listening Company, which was sold in 2011 to Serco for a sum in excess of £50 million at which time it had a turnover of £82 million and employed 4,000 people. Neville co-founded the Company in 2012 and is the largest shareholder in the Company.

 

Jonathan Hall, Finance Director

 

Jon qualified as a Chartered Accountant with Arthur Andersen followed by a period of 6.5 years with PA Consulting, a management consultancy, specialising in organisation and business process design. He subsequently spent 5 years as a finance director of Saracens Ltd and the wider Premier Team Holdings Group, before joining Gfinity in August 2014.

 

Ginette Jarman, Operations Director

 

Ginette was a key member of the management team at The Listening Company. She has responsibility for the operational delivery of Gfinity events and management of special projects. She was the founding director of the Company and thus has been closely involved in the early development of the business since inception.

 

Paul Kent, Technology and eSports Director

 

Paul has been involved in eSports since 1996, as both a top level gamer and team owner. He established the Warped Gaming League in 2009, which grew to be the UK's largest Xbox Live on-line league. Paul spent 10 years as a software engineer with Creative Labs. He has responsibility for web and production technology and also for setting the rules and tournament structures for all Gfinity competitions.

 

Philip Shuldham-Legh, Marketing Director

 

Philip was Group Sales and Marketing Director for Neville Upton at The Listening Company until it was acquired by Serco in March 2011. In Serco he moved to Business Development Director until he joined Gfinity as Marketing Director in January 2013. Phillip divides his time between this role and being Strategy Director at Voice Marketing Ltd.

 

David Yarnton, Non-Executive Director

 

David has 18 years' experience of the games industry first in Australia followed by 9 years as Managing Director of Nintendo UK. He is a member of the UK Interactive Entertainment Association, an organisation in which he was a Board Member and Vice-Chairman for 7 years.

This information is provided by RNS
The company news service from the London Stock Exchange
 
END
 
 
MSCFEEEFSFLSEFE
Date   Source Headline
19th Mar 20247:00 amRNSHalf-year Report
14th Feb 20242:38 pmRNSResult of meeting and change of registered office
30th Jan 20248:50 amRNSNotice of GM
22nd Dec 20237:00 amRNSFinal Results
21st Dec 20235:35 pmRNSResult of AGM
5th Dec 20237:00 amRNSDisposal
27th Nov 20237:00 amRNSDisposal
24th Nov 20234:50 pmRNSNotice of AGM
7th Sep 20237:00 amRNSDirector/PDMR Shareholding
6th Sep 20237:00 amRNSDirector/PDMR Shareholding
5th Sep 20237:00 amRNSDirector/PDMR Shareholding
1st Sep 20237:00 amRNSHolding(s) in Company
31st Aug 202312:46 pmRNSTotal Voting Rights
30th Aug 202311:44 amRNSResult of Meeting
23rd Aug 202311:21 amRNSDirectorate Change
9th Aug 20235:30 pmRNSPublication of Circular, Notice of General Meeting
9th Aug 202310:54 amRNSFundraising, board changes, change of adviser
20th Jun 20237:00 amRNSBoard Change
6th Jun 20237:00 amRNSDisposal and Business Update
31st Mar 20234:35 pmRNSPrice Monitoring Extension
31st Mar 20232:05 pmRNSSecond Price Monitoring Extn
31st Mar 20232:00 pmRNSPrice Monitoring Extension
31st Mar 202311:05 amRNSSecond Price Monitoring Extn
31st Mar 202311:00 amRNSPrice Monitoring Extension
31st Mar 20237:00 amRNSHalf-year Report
14th Mar 20239:16 amRNSHolding(s) in Company
6th Mar 202312:30 pmRNSResult of General Meeting
14th Feb 20239:05 amRNSSecond Price Monitoring Extn
14th Feb 20239:00 amRNSPrice Monitoring Extension
14th Feb 20237:00 amRNSResults of Fundraise & Publication of Circular
13th Feb 20235:12 pmRNSProposed Fundraising and Notice of GM
9th Feb 202312:00 pmRNSBusiness update and financing
4th Jan 20237:00 amRNSAthlos Platform integration into Playgendary
23rd Dec 202211:00 amRNSPrice Monitoring Extension
23rd Dec 20229:05 amRNSSecond Price Monitoring Extn
23rd Dec 20229:00 amRNSPrice Monitoring Extension
23rd Dec 20227:00 amRNSFinal year results for the year ended 30 June 2022
17th Nov 20227:00 amRNSGfinity appointed partner of Saudi Pro League
8th Nov 20227:00 amRNSAppointment for Red Bull Home Ground Tournament
15th Sep 20223:15 pmRNSGfinity plc appoints Managing Director of GDM
24th Aug 20222:05 pmRNSSecond Price Monitoring Extn
24th Aug 20222:00 pmRNSPrice Monitoring Extension
24th Aug 20227:00 amRNSGfinity launches Athlos Game Technologies
3rd Aug 20224:41 pmRNSSecond Price Monitoring Extn
3rd Aug 20224:36 pmRNSPrice Monitoring Extension
3rd Aug 20222:05 pmRNSSecond Price Monitoring Extn
3rd Aug 20222:00 pmRNSPrice Monitoring Extension
7th Jun 20227:00 amRNSV10 R-League S3 finals to be held in Abu Dhabi
6th Jun 20227:00 amRNSF1 Esports Series agreement extended
4th Apr 20224:35 pmRNSHolding(s) in Company

Due to London Stock Exchange licensing terms, we stipulate that you must be a private investor. We apologise for the inconvenience.

To access our Live RNS you must confirm you are a private investor by using the button below.

Login to your account

Don't have an account? Click here to register.

Quickpicks are a member only feature

Login to your account

Don't have an account? Click here to register.