In another encouraging sign for Australian entrepreneurs, the Australian Small Scale Offerings Board — which was haemorrhaging like an arterial wound a year ago — reported an operating profit for the last fiscal year.
The ASSOB, the National Stock Exchange’s largest capital-raising platform for showcasing unlisted companies for investors, posted a $186,000 profit for the fiscal year ended June 30.
Sure, it doesn’t sound like much. But compared to last fiscal year’s loss of $4.8 million… well… Yow!
That’s $14,000 shy of a $5 million turnaround.
To be precise, the fiscal 2010 profit was $121,000 after taxes, after including non-recurring legal expenses of $183,000.
Paul Niederer, the board’s CEO, said there has been a big upswing in recent months in small- and medium-size enterprises seeking to use the board’s capital-raising platform.
“It’s refreshing that a number of new business listing on the ASSOB platform have already raised around $600,000 to $1 million before going live,” Niederer said.
“We see this and other indicators that the SME market is really starting to get back to business and are looking for ways to fund growth,” Niederer said.
To date, almost $120 million of equity capital has been raised, using a network of “accredited ASSOB sponsors” and more than 15,000 subscriber investors from numerous industries.
ASSOB: www.assob.com.au
Image by Artemuestra
