April 7, 2009 (CAP Newswire) — No surprise: The unhealthy state of the world economy is negatively affecting the London Stock Exchange's growth market, as clearly outlined in a recent report featured on the M&A Deals website, which specializes in analyzing Britain’s AIM venture markets. (AIM is a sub-market of the London Stock Exchange for Alternative Investment Markets, featuring smaller companies and more flexible regulatory rules.)
Share prices in the AIM sector have plummeted over the past year, reflecting an understandable lack of confidence in investors. The report states that no companies on the AIM market are currently worth more than £1 billion. Considering that there were seven companies with a valuation of more than £1 billion in 2006 and two in 2007, that’s a definite downward trend that many investors are uneasy about.
However, this trend also shows another factor of interest to the online gaming world: the relative strength of iGaming companies during times of recession. Gaming technology provider Playtech has now slid into second place on the list of the AIM’s largest companies. With a market capitalization of £745.4 million, the company now stands as one of the U.K.’s hottest AIM companies on the London Stock Exchange.
And this situation is likely to improve even further for Playtech, and other gaming firms. With PartyGaming's recent settlement with the U.S. Department of Justice (read about that here), iGaming stocks in general are trending higher, and Playtech is likely to benefit from the renewed confidence in this sector of the industry. Other U.K.-listed companies such as 888 and Sportingbet are already showing strong gains in the market today because of the news, it has been reported.
So what’s the big picture? iGaming stocks are showing themselves to be more resilient than many other industries during this time of economic upheaval. That’s great news for investors looking for more reliable companies. It’s also good news for affiliates, who can enjoy a larger degree of confidence in the gaming companies and online casinos they choose to promote.