China’s leading poker card maker, Shanghai Yaoji Playing Card Co Ltd., had a very successful first day on ChiNext, one of China’s two stock exchanges, as the company flew up 70 percent to close at $5.60 a share.
According to news site, Chinadaily.com.cn, analyts have stated that the success of the initial public offering will help the company produce 1.3 billion decks of cards anually instead of the current 700 million per year with the help of a new manufacturing base. That is one pack for every Chinese person.
Poker cards sales in China are said to have increased at an annual growth rate of 18.8 percent in the past five years. Shanghai Yaoji’s sales reached 532 million decks in 2009, an increase of 29.8 percent, and then this jumped by 25.7 percent from 2009 to 2010 with 669 million decks produced. However, according to the article, every Chinese person owns an average of three decks of cards, therefore future growth potential could be limited.
