Sales Curve Interactive Plc is expected to be valued at around 30m British pounds when it floats on London’s Alternative Investment Market later this month. The London-based company, now in its eighth year of trading, is best known for its Kingdom O ‘Magic comedy point and click adventure game and Gender Wars, a strategic and politically incorrect battle of the sexes. The company has produced 94 titles to date, 92 of which have been profitable while the other two broke even. For the year to February, SCi almost doubled its profits to 410,000 pounds and turned over 3.5m pounds. The firm is now focused on the CD-ROM and Sony Corp PlayStation formats, but remains one of the few UK companies to be an approved licensee for both Nintendo Co Ltd and Sega Enterprises Ltd games consoles. Last year managing director Jane Cavanagh, who personally owns 84% of the equity, secured a long-term deal with Europe’s largest games distributor, German-based Funsoft GmbH, who paid 2m pounds for a 16% sta ke in SCi. Funsoft also has a 25% stake in rival games company Gremlin, which is expected to follow a similar path and float soon. Newsagent group John Menzies Plc acquired a 37% holding of Funsoft in 1994 for 25m pounds. The various distribution alliances have helped SCi sell its products in 49 countries. The AIM flotation will raise 4m pounds for SCi to buy small games developers and double output. Ms Cavanagh will sell a small number of personal shares, but the majority of the issue will be new shares to raise development cash. SCi hopes the 4m pound investment in new CD-ROM titles will increase profits to 1m pounds and revenue to about 10m pounds in the next fiscal, which now ends June 30. Peel, Hunt & Co has been nominated broker to the company and Guinness Mahon & Co will advise.
