| Top Ten Bingo Announces Stock Exchange Departure |
| Friday, 17 July 2009 00:00 |
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Top Ten Holdings held their General Meeting yesterday and have since announced they are to leave the AIM stock exchange. The ordinary bingo company shares that are freely available on the AIM stock exchange will see trading cancelled on 23rd July 2009. The company has announced that Astaire Securities PLC has agreed a matched bargain facility that will continue following on from the cancellation of the trading of shares from the AIM. This does not mean that the effective trading in Top Ten bingo Shares have ceased, it simply means that the trading will be done through Astaire Securities as opposed to the AIM. Anyone wishing to buy or sell shares in Top Ten Bingo will now have to go through a stock broker. Due to the low trading activity on the stocks, Top Ten have taken this measure as a cost cutting exercise to save the costs of around 150,000 pounds per annum for being on the AIM. The downside is that the market capitalisation of the shares will be a figure difficult to establish. At the moment Top Ten shares are at an all time low of 0.52 pence per share, that produces a market capitalisation 133,910 pounds. Bingo has suffered extremely difficult trading conditions through the smoking ban and recent taxation issues. The economic impact is not as heavy as the impact from legislative changes that have been made by the Government. The recent budget announcements and the fact that the Government are still holding out on VAT reclaims is not helping the bingo industry. The Government have the opportunity to turn the bingo industry around by announcing it will uphold the decisions of the high court and not take the VAT case against them to appeal and bring the tax in line with all other forms of commercial gaming at 15 percent. This would not only be a victory for the bingo companies concerned, but it will be a victory for the government in terms of consumer confidence and spending and a victory for every bingo customer who enjoys regular visits to their local bingo club to know to the club is secure for many years to come.
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