Shares: Taking Stock

AIM may be getting overheated but the newcomers are still arriving. Today dealings are due to start in Lotteryking which supplies lottery tickets and machines to clubs. Shares have been placed at 3p. The company, started in 1993, produced profits of pounds 265,000 in its last financial year. Lotteryking has more than 1,000 gaming machines installed in clubs.

On Ofex, a reverse takeover is underway. London chef Sebastian Snow is pumping two restaurants, B Square at Battersea and Snow's on the Green, Hammersmith, into Mulberries, a struggling business services company where the Wiggins property group has a near 30 per cent interest. Mulberries shares rose 0.25p to 1p. Australian tycoon Kerry Packer will have an interest in the new group.