Supreme Ventures postpones IPO untill January 2006
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Observer Reporter
Friday, November 25, 2005
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Jamaica's premier gaming company Supreme Ventures has put back its Initial Public Offering (IPO) to January of next year.
Speaking at a Mayberry Forum on Wednesday night, Supreme Ventures' President and CEO Brian George said that the company was mandated by the Betting Gaming and Lotteries Commission (BGLC) to go public by the end of this year. The company, however; took the decision to postpone this untill January of next year.
George said that the company in less than five years has produced revenues this year of J$15 billion. He said that when all its Video Lottery Terminals (VLT) are in place it should be reporting revenues of J$23 billion a year by 2008.
He said that the gaming industry could be broken down into four categories: lotteries, casinos, slot machines and VLTs.
Supreme Ventures participates in three of those categories. He said that when the opportunity arises Supreme Ventures would operate casinos.
There is now an increased acceptance of gaming in the Jamaican market. According to George, when Supreme Ventures first entered the market, a survey revealed that only 15 per cent of the people had heard of or participated in Cash Pot and Drop Pan. Now he understands that over 81 per cent of people have tried or continue to play the games.
He sees gaming as prominent among the lower economic segment of the Jamaican population.
Supreme Ventures, he cautioned, is subject to negative impacts, namely illegal gaming and natural disasters. He said that the recent spate of hurricanes and tropical storms hit the company's sales hard and that it was now the case that it had to factor at least one month a year of low sales as a result.
The CEO said that of its lottery operations, 76 per cent of Supreme Ventures' business comes from Cash Pot. This underscored the importance of diversification, he said.
The company will be seeking a listing on the Trinidad and Tobago Stock Exchange some time next year.
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