STANLEY GIBBONS ACQUIRES LEADING ONLINE TRADING PLATFORM FOR $1 MILLION

James Qualtrough | October 31, 2012 | 0 Comments

Jersey based Stanley Gibbons Group plc, the AIM listed Company which trades in stamps, coins, rare signatures and other collectibles for investors and collectors is pleased to announce that today it has agreed to buy the assets of Stampwants.com Inc, trading as bidStart (“bidStart”), a US-based online collectibles business, for $1 million.

To finance both the purchase and the future costs of developing its online collectibles trading platform, the Company’s broker, Peel Hunt LLP has raised £6m by conditionally placing 3,076,923 new ordinary shares of 1p each in the capital of the Company at a price of 195p per share.

Benefits of bidStart acquisition

bidStart is a US-based online collectibles trading platform which focuses on the stamp and postcard markets. The business operates a customised search engine specifically built for the trading of collectibles, providing a fully transparent marketplace for buyers and sellers.

Since starting, bidStart has sold over 3.5 million items. There are currently over 6.4 million lots available for sale on the site, 3 million of which are stamp lots. Commission fees are the main source of revenue for bidStart and revenues are also generated from subscription fees, public/live auctions, and advertising.

In the last few years, Stanley Gibbons has made a significant investment in its own website and back office systems in order to drive online opportunities, with a strategy of becoming more of a service provider than a traditional dealer. The new Stanley Gibbons website was launched in May 2011 and since then the Company has reported significant increases in revenue from this channel.

The objective for Stanley Gibbons following the acquisition is to utilise its brand, network, industry expertise and financial strength to rapidly grow the bidStart platform and to build on bidStart’s technology to create a leading global collectibles trading platform. In this regard, the Company is committed to using Jersey to develop and expand its E-commerce operations.

Michael Hall, Chief Executive of The Stanley Gibbons Group plc, said:

“Following the sizeable investment in our databases and website in recent years, the acquisition of bidStart and associated fundraising is expected to enable the acceleration of the delivery of the key aspect of our online strategy and consequent shareholder returns. I believe the bidStart technology is the best in the collectibles market. I am also confident that the founder and majority shareholder, Mark Rosenberg, who will remain with the bidStart business, will prove a key asset as Chief Digital Officer to the group in developing the opportunities associated with taking the Stanley Gibbons brand online globally.”