First Artist in a successful transfer window

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First Artist Corporation, an AIM-listed sports and entertainment group, reported its best monthly earnings since its listing three years ago with earnings of GBP 600,000 in January’s transfer window.

The company completed several football deals during the month from its London and Milan offices, including Nigel Quashie from English Championship club Southampton to Premiere League club West Bromwich Albion, Dean Kiely from Premiere League clubs Portsmouth to Charlton Athletic, John Mensah from Italian Serie A club Chievo Verona to French Lique 1 club Stade Rennais, and Karim Saidi from Dutch Eredivisie club Feyenoord to Serie A club Lecce.

In addition to the increase in transfer activity, the company’s event management division, Finishing Touch, staged approximately 40 events in January, double the number from the same period last year.

First Artist Chief Executive Jon Smith said: “The year has begun well for our sport representation businesses in the UK and Italy. We now look forward to it benefiting further from this summer's World Cup and our relationship with German agency FairSport.” He added: “We do though remain aware that the business is second half weighted – an issue we will be taking steps to address. However, I am also pleased to report that our event management, wealth management and celebrity representation divisions are experiencing a strong trading environment demonstrating the collective momentum that is now being achieved across the group”.