Strong debut from LADbible on London’s AIM stock exchange
LADbible (LBG) has become the latest British media property to go public after a successful listing on the London Stock Exchange’s Alternative Investment Market (Aim) on Friday.
LBG’s shares were listed at £1.75, valuing the company at £360m. By the end of the day, LBG’s share price had risen to £2, and the company’s market capitalisation was around £411m.
The company’s founder Alexander (Solly) Solomou retains a 42% stake in the listed LBG Media.
LBG has been in existence since 2012, and over the years has spun off a series of other media brands including SportBible, UNILAD and GamingBible, from its initial site. The company generated revenues of £30.2m last year and adjusted earnings before interest, taxation, depreciation and amortisation (Ebitda) of £5.3m.
LBG’s co-founders Solly Solomou and Arian Kalantari, 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 phase of our growth story with the listing on AIM providing us with the platform to continue to grow well into the future.”