Going public puts Kingston Live Entertainment (KLE) in a strong position to realise its dream of becoming a powerful entertainment group, says Gary Matalon.

KLE, operators of the Fiction Lounge and Usain Bolt's Tracks & Records restaurant, recently announced plans to list on the Jamaica Stock Exchange (JSE) Junior Market. Matalon, KLE’s chief executive officer, anticipates that this move will jolt the company forward to realise the goals set by the members of the board.

“The JSE Junior Market offers us a great opportunity to raise the capital needed to execute our development strategy. We recognized early on that financing would be key in us achieving our goals. A successful IPO puts us one step closer to our objectives,” he said.

It is with this unique view of entertainment and a solid business plan that KLE is undertaking the milestone achievement of listing, Matalon added.

“This investment will also offer shareholders an opportunity to achieve great returns on their investment through solid growth in a high potential industry,” he said, noting that “KLE has demonstrated solid performance up to this point and continues to develop with positive actions all geared towards preparing for the next stages of development.”

The KLE Group commenced operations just over three years ago with 48 employees. Since then, the group has grown to employ 109 permanent staff members with further growth expected to create employment for another 43 persons in the short term. Additionally, the Group provides employment to other local service providers within and outside the entertainment industry, including suppliers of food and beverage products, all of which are bought locally, the company said.

KLE’s leadership team is comprised of a dynamic group of established Jamaican entrepreneurs. Kevin Bourke, the company’s director of marketing and entertainment, said a wealth of ideas and the guiding vision of customer satisfaction and quality are elements that contributes to KLE's success.

“I have always said that the KLE Group is an idea factory. We have spent quite a bit of time and energy on the strategic planning process,” he said.

A listing on the JSE is an important undertaking that will solidify longterm plans, a good corporate governance structure and management expertise, all things that potential shareholders should pay attention to, Matalon added.

“The JSE provides us a great opportunity to finance our growth plans. The fact is we have always operated following best practices so the move to becoming a public company isn't as much of a shock to our system as one may think,” he said.