LADbible shares up 14% after successful stock market debut
Shares in LADbible owner LBG Media finished up 14% after it made its debut on the Alternative Investment Market (AIM) today.
The digital publisher had raised £30m while shareholders earned £81m from the 175p-per-share flotation.
Its shares closed at 200p, adding £50m to its £360m IPO valuation.
LBG Media has an enormous youth following for its mix of shareable videos and entertainment news across its websites that also include UNILAD, Tyla, SPORTbible and GAMINGbible.
The Manchester-headquartered group employs 450 people across the UK, Ireland, Australia and New Zealand.
Solly Solomou and Arian Kalantari, co-founders of LBG Media, said: “Today is an important day for everyone at LBG Media and we’d like to thank our incredibly hard-working and talented team for helping us achieve this milestone.
“Back when we founded the Company in 2012 we were looking for a way to engage with young people just like us and we are incredibly proud that what we created back then now has over 262 million social media followers worldwide.
“We remain committed to creating exciting, engaging and socially responsible content that gives the youth generation a voice and appropriately represents their interests.
“The reception we have received from investors has been very positive and we are excited to be embarking on the next of phase of our growth story with the listing on AIM providing us with the platform to continue to grow well into the future.”
Zeus Capital acted as Nominated Advisor and Sole Broker on the Placing and IPO.
Nick Cowles, Deputy Head of Corporate Finance at Zeus Capital, said: “We believe LBG Media is a unique business in a very high growth segment of the market and has an exciting future ahead both in the UK and globally.
“It’s incredible to see how the business has grown and maintained its market position as the leading digital youth publisher with, on average, over 77 million views of its content daily.”
The Manchester office of Addleshaw Goddard advised LBG Media its IPO.
The 81 person AG team was led by partner Roger Hart and included David Auty, Nina Goodman, Dan Conway, Becky Mackellar, Ed Hendey, Callum Campbell, Jonathan Fletcher-Rogers and Leah Fisher.
