Trading Statement

RNS Number : 0490Z

Brainspark PLC

09 March 2012

 



9 March 2012

Brainspark plc

("Brainspark" or "the Company")

Trading Update

Brainspark, the AIM listed investment company, is pleased to update shareholders on trading in its various investee companies.

Alfredo Villa, CEO of Brainspark, commented, "The Board believes the investments of the past three years form a very strong base from which to further expand our interests. Following the recent fund raising, we are in an excellent position to capitalise on the ownership of our main investments, where we plan to acquire larger stakes and add our own people to the boards of these companies to help them carry out their strategies; bringing them closer to our own model through synergies and cross productivity. At the same time we will look to identify new opportunities, mainly in the real estate and leisure sectors, where we can bring even greater returns to shareholders."

Ora Hotel Group

International hotel chain and travel agent, Ora Hotel Group, 51 per cent. owned by Brainspark, currently manages 53 hotel and resorts in Europe and Africa. The company added 27 new hotels to the chain in 2011, increasing revenue by 73 per cent. to EUR 51.7 million (2010: EUR 29.8 million) and EBITDA of EUR 1.2 million, roughly the same as the previous year due to a rapid expansion and land grab strategy, particularly in east Africa, where the hotel industry is booming.

Ora expects to report sales in excess of EUR 60 million in 2012, with an EBITDA in excess of EUR 4 million. An independent advisory consultant has recently established a NAV of ORH at EUR 20 million.

Sosushi

Sosushi (20 per cent. owned by Brainspark, with an option to increase to 51 per cent. shortly to be exercised) is Italy's largest sushi chain. The company increased the number of restaurants to 30 at the start of 2012 (2010: 18). The company works on a franchise model and consolidated revenue in 2011 was EUR 5 million, with forecasted growth showing sales of EUR 10 million within 18 months. It has been independently valued at EUR 6 million.

Sosushi sells a variety of sushi dishes, from traditional Japanese sushi to Italian inspired dishes. It is opening a sushi Academy in April, a professional school for chefs to learn new skills and it will increase the number of seasonal "food vehicles" on the streets of Italy in the summer.

The company will commence an international strategy this year and export the brand and the concept of Italian sushi into Europe and beyond with the help of Brainspark and synergies with Ora Hotels.

Sipiem (Ondaland)

Sipiem (40 per cent. owned by Brainspark) is a building company specialising in residential and leisure development, especially theme parks. It has been operating in Italy since 1975.

The company owns Ondaland, the largest water park in Italy, with more than 300,000 paying visitors in 2011. Ondaland is currently in the process of building the first indoor amusement park in Italy with an investment of EUR 7 million, fully financed by Italian banks owing to the consistent cash flow positive results of the park.

Sipiem also owns 14 villas and six apartment units in Candelo (Biella Italy) defined as one of the most beautiful Italian small villages with tourist appeal.

Brainspark initially paid EUR 7.2 million for its stake, which would imply a valuation for 100 per cent. of Sipiem of EUR 18 million.

Mediapolis

Mediapolis (69.12 per cent. owned by Brainspark) will remain the real estate division of Brainspark following the recent sale of the physical land to Sorgente Real Estate Fund for EUR 25 million (payable in shares in Michelangelo II Fund), as announced in November 2011.

The company will focus its attention on theme park development and managing Brainspark's other real estate assets. The funding provided from the sale will be used to develop various strategies, namely;

·     working with Ora Hotels to expand the chain;

·     developing the new Venexian theme park in China, to which Brainspark owns the rights for the project;

·     developing the first flagship "Americana" theme park, comprising amusement park and indoor theme restaurant (the franchise to be owned by Sosushi), in conjunction with the Valerio Mazzoli Studios in Orlando Florida, (the creator of Italy's Gardaland and Epcot Center for Disney); and

·     operating existing them parks, such as the Acquapark of Cluj Napoca, in Romania, where negotiations to the rights are currently ongoing;

Mediapolis has also taken ownership of the 10 real estate units in Liscia di Vacca, which from 2012 are being managed by Sforza, a 20 per cent. owned Brainspark subsidiary.

Mediapolis will keep all his right as developer and manager of the Mediapolis Theme park in Albiano d'Ivrea as general contractor of the park that will be created by Sorgente on the land that they have bought from Mediapolis.

The Board of Brainspark estimates the NAV of Mediapolis to be around EUR 23 million. The contract for the sale of the land was signed on 31 December 2011 and is expected to close on or before 31 March 2012.

Bibop

Following the sale of MyCast (announced on 7 March 2012) for US$ 3 million, Bibop will have funding to reinforce its traditional activities in the digital space, primarily investing in its new product "Virtual Promoter", as well as looking for other investment opportunities.

Additionally, in the Bibop stable is Aisling, a large Italian producer of television programmes (Brainspark owns 8 per cent. for which it paid EUR 1.2 million in 2010) which has recently invested EUR 300,000 on project Rita, a new company with proprietary technologies for the payment of downloading digital entertainment content.

Bibop reported revenues of EUR 800,000 in 2011 (net of MyCast) and the Board of Brainspark estimates its NAV to be around EUR 4 million.

Mobnotes

During 2011, Mobnotes (30 per cent. owned by Brainspark) has invested heavily to transform its location based social networking (LBSN) from B2C to B2B. It recently launched a SaaS (software as a service) platform specially designed for mobile segment solutions. The platform is useful to power up external geo communities with either brand or white label solutions. The company already has some successful cases, among others, the Italian government with MiaPA project (sponsored by Italian government, RAI first Italian public broadcaster, MTV Days event). Mobnotes aims to have a fully mobile PaaS (platform as a service) to power up customised white-label social networking partnership solutions for large media, entertainment, and community brands.

By the end of 2011 Mobnotes has 180,000 registered unique users in Italy and the company has recently been evaluated by an independent consultant with a NAV of EUR 1 million.

Sforza

Sforza was created in 2010, (20 per cent. owned by Brainspark) and is active in three business Units:

·     Flat Management

·     Real Estate Trading and Brokerage

·     Financial Advisory and Renewable Energy

Sforza has closed a Joint Venture Agreement with a European Property Management Group named Halldis.com focused on Short Renting business (1,200 Flats under Management in Europe) for the city of Milan. During February 2012 Sforza concluded a similar agreement with Halldis to manage 60 apartments under management in franchising in London.

As previously announced and as part of the above investments, Brainspark still has a number of deferred payments outstanding to the vendors of the various businesses, including the deferred payment in shares and cash to the vendors of Ora Hotel Group which was announced on 28 June 2011,

The Company is in negotiations with these vendors to agree a significant proportion of the deferred cash to be settled by the issue of new shares. Further announcements will be made in due course. 

-ends-

For further information please contact:

Brainspark plc                                                                                                                               

Alfredo Villa, CEO                                                                                                 [phone]

Justin Drummond, Executive Chairman                                                     [phone]  

Westhouse Securities                                                                                 [phone]

Antonio Bossi

Jonathan Haines

Leander PR                                                                                                 [phone]

Christian Taylor-Wilkinson

About Brainspark Plc

Brainspark plc (AIM: BSP) is an AIM listed investment company pursuing a dynamic strategy to create a comprehensive portfolio of companies primarily encompassing the interactive media, leisure, entertainment and financial services sectors mainly in Italy but also other European countries. The company may be either a passive or active investor and Brainspark's investment rationale ranges from acquiring minority positions with strategic influence through to larger controlling positions.

 

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