Sportingbet.com gives AIM better odds

The listing, likely to take place in January, will include a "modest" new share issue intended to give the company a market capitalisation of up to £200m. Its capitalisation on Ofex is around £185m.

It plans to use the money to achieve its aim of becoming "the leading online global sports book".

The company has already established a foothold in the US through the May acquisition of US web betting firm Betmaker. Thanks to Betmaker, rebranded as SportingbetUSA.com, 70 per cent of Sportingbet's revenues now come from America.

For the six months ended 30 September, Sportingbet's revenues grew 25-fold to £114.1m compared with the same period the previous year, with Betmaker contributing £69.2m. Sportingbet made an operating loss of £3.46m, compared with an operating loss of £958,000 a year ago.

By Candice Goodwin