STOCK MARKET WATCHLIST: £5m whip-round for Gfinity is a little too late for some 

Is that the sound of video gamers bashing buttons on their controllers, or brokers frantically dialling their pals in the City?

Word reaches me that AIM-listed Gfinity is raising £5 million in a share placing.

The company puts on ‘esports’ events for video gamers who are no longer just teenagers playing for fun in their bedroom, but professionals earning hundreds of thousands every year playing events around the world.

Gfinity was an early player in the market but still doesn’t make a profit – surviving instead off shareholder handouts such as the £5 million it is said to be hunting for. 

Directors’ Dealings 

Various directors and managers of Energean Oil & Gas have invested £3 million in stock as part of a £211 million fundraising to help buy rival Edison E&P. Chief executive Mathios Rigas bought £1 million of stock and non-executive director Karen Simon invested £500,000.

It hopes to be self-sufficient by 2021.

Its share price has nearly doubled in just six weeks thanks in part to a strong trading update at the start of this month in which it said its financial performance had been better than expected.

That will have helped those at Allenby Capital, the City stockbrokers in charge of the fundraise, to round up investment.

That said, the share price has tumbled from 31p in September 2017 to just 6p on Friday.

So for many shareholders, it is already a case of game over.

Renationalisation threat at Royal Mail

The spectre of renationalisation on the cheap under a Jeremy Corbyn-led Labour government still looms large over Royal Mail. 

But the company has more pressing worries.

It is set to update investors this week on first quarter trading, which could make for more painful reading.

Letter volumes are expected to be down 8 per cent with new data protection laws and low business confidence.

Broker Jefferies also reckons its long-term margin target is too optimistic. 

If potential investors were worried about Corbyn’s plans to return the business to state ownership, this might be enough to put them off for good.