£5m whip-round for Gfinity is a little too late for some

IS THAT the sound of video gamers bashing buttons on their controllers, or brokers frantically dialling their pals in the City?

Word reaches me that AIM-listed Gfinity is raising £5 million in a share placing.

The company puts on ‘esports’ events for video gamers who are no longer just teenagers playing for fun in their bedroom, but professionals earning hundreds of thousands every year playing events around the world.

Gfinity was an early player in the market but still doesn’t make a profit – surviving instead off shareholder handouts such as the £5 million it is said to be hunting for. It hopes to be self-sufficient by 2021.

Its share price has nearly doubled in just six weeks thanks in part to a strong trading update at the start of this month in which it said its financial performance had been better than expected.

That will have helped those at Allenby Capital, the City stockbrokers in charge of the fundraise, to round up investment.

That said, the share price has tumbled from 31p in September 2017 to just 6p on Friday.

So for many shareholders, it is already a case of game over.

IN MARCH, when Ladbrokes Coral owner GVC put out strong annual results, its chief executive and chairman celebrated by selling a combined £20 million in shares just a few days later.

Investors did the same, causing the shares to tank 20 per cent. This week, it’s a trading update ahead of GVC’s interims, and chief executive Kenny Alexander and chairman Lee Feldman are unlikely to repeat the trick.

The i mpact of rules brought in in April to limit maximum stakes on fixedodds betting terminals will be closely watched. Will it follow William Hill by unveiling a raft of betting shop closures in response?

IT MIGHT have a lengthy legal battle with its former chief executive (as chronicled in this column previously) on its hands, but Victoria Oil & Gas (VOG) finally has some good news.

My sources say the AIM-listed firm, which extracts gas from Cameroon, has signed a deal to supply gas to Aksa Energy, Turkey’s biggest power company.

VOG will supply up to 25 million cubic feet per day of gas to Aksa’s planned power station in Cameroon. The deal is still subject to government sign-off and won’t start until next year. But it will be a big step towards profitability.