21 Jul Dream Weekend imagines listing on the JSE
As Dream Weekend continues to grow, Dream Entertainment – the company behind the successful Negril-based festival – is considering listing on the Jamaica Stock Exchange at some point in the future, as a potential way to raise funds for expanding the company and as a possible exit strategy.
While there are no immediate plans to go in that direction, the idea of a stock market listing is “a plan for the future”, according to Scott Dunn, managing director of Dream entertainment, speaking to journalists at the Jamaica Observer Monday Exchange two days ago. But he added, “That’s not where we are right now.”
The stock market could be a way of allowing the company to raise capital to explore attracting larger acts, Dunn said.”If we intend to bring in a Rhianna or a Beyonce, that would be a couple million US dollars,” he noted.
But an entry to the stock market could also be an exit strategy for the company’s directors. “We’re not getting any younger,” Dunn said.
The company takes entertainment very seriously, with the management team totally dedicated to creating and staging name-brand party events, and planning to expand further into corporate events. “This is all we do, all year round,” said Dunn.
Dream Weekend, they believe, is the largest festival in the English-speaking Caribbean outside of Trinidad Carnival.
But the company is not convinced that the market is aware of the serious business potential behind the idea of letting loose. As a result, the company is concerned that its business might not be properly understood by potential investors.
“For the investor, they might not understand our business,” said marketing director Ron Burke. “The entertainment business is big business – it’s a billion-dollar industry.”
For the upcoming keystone Dream Weekend — a five-day party event set in Negril — the company expects to spend more than $200 million, with expenditure dominated largely by accommodation. Some 20,000 patrons are expected, with more than 50 per cent coming from markets abroad, particularly the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom.
The event, which runs from July 28 to August 1 (Emancipation Day), should inject about $1.4 billion into the Negril economy, with most of that going towards accommodation and local restaurants, but about 23 per cent going to ticket costs.
The Jamaica Stock Exchange, which was the fastest-growing global stock exchange last year, has seen its number of listed companies expand in recent years, with private companies attracted to it as a source of funding and a way of reducing tax. There are currently some 46 companies listed on the Main Market, and 32 on the Junior Market. The most recent entrant to the JSE was Portland JSX – a financial company linked to Michael Lee Chin – which listed on the Main Market earlier this month.
Source (Jamaica Observer) – Dream Weekend imagines listing on the JSE
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