A flotation can make or break a company. Just ask gambling firm Nektan, which made a terrible start to its life on the public markets.
Nektan floated in late 2014 at 256p with a value of £50.1 million but it quickly became apparent that the firm had oversold itself and its stock took a nosedive to 134p within a year.
Gary Shaw, who was chairman at the time and has just finished a spell as interim chief executive, blamed the bad start on an over-excitable broker from Panmure Gordon and the appointment of David Gosen as boss in January 2015.
Shaw says: “It was a disaster. We brought in Panmure Gordon, which was in a state of flux following its merger with Charles Stanley. The broker who looked after the process was hyper-excited. Then we brought in Gosen, who was very ambitious but was overpromising. We clashed badly.”
Gosen, who could not be reached for comment, left in January 2016 and since then the company has undertaken the slow and painful process of turning its fortunes around.
Nektan (LON:NKTN) is an international B2B and white label gaming software and services provider, operating in the regulated, interactive real money gaming (RMG) space, delivering original and innovative solutions to commercial organisations that have established online audiences.
