Falcon Acquisitions jumps on first trading day

Shares in Falcon Acquisitions jumped during their first day of trading on the London Stock Exchange.

The company, which bills itself as a vehicle targeting acquisitions of controlling stakes in the mobile, online television and broadcasting sectors with particular focus on the market for fast growing over-the-top content (“OTT”), listed its entire share capital of 20.4m ordinary shares on the LSE’s main market on Monday.

OTT involves the delivery of audio and media content either through the internet or internet enabled devices; such as smart televisions with a broadband connection, phones, tablets, and set top boxes.

Falcon referenced how the premium US OTT market - excluding Amazon Prime Instant Video - had registered an annual growth rate of 36% between 2011 and 2014 to reach a value of $4bn at the end of that period.

Further underpinning the investment case for the stock, global OTT subscription numbers and the market were forecast to expand to 332.2m (2014: 92.1m) and US$31.6bn (2018: US$8bn) by 2019, the company said in a statement.

A subscription of new shares, in which the founder was to participate, were expected to net the company £1.73m in proceeds to be used for general corporate purposes and due diligence and other costs.

As of 13:35 shares in the newly-listed company were 21% higher at 16p.