LONDON: Lalvani said Binatone would be listed in either London or Hong Kong, with a valuation of more than £300 million. "I could take the firm public in either city. Binatone manufactures in China and the operational HQ is in Hong Kong, but almost all our sales are in the UK. I'll make the decision in October", Lalvani told the Evening Standard. The company had sales of £50 million last year and made £5 million profit. In the six months to April, it made £2.7 million on turnover of more than £27 million. "We are beating BT (British Telecom) in the digital cordless phone market. Our market share has shot up from 11.6 percent last June to 40.5 percent this June. "The window for flotations is opening. Binatone is performing excellently, and I am gradually reducing my day-to-day running of the business. This is the right moment to sell shares to institutions and retail investors," he said. Lalvani built Binatone -- named after his sister Bina -- from scratch, starting it when he was a student at Leeds University in 1956. He moved on to selling the first miniature transistor radios in Britain in the early 1960s. Since the mid-80s, Binatone has focused entirely on phones and was the first company to break BT's monopoly. Lalvani is reported to be gradually handing over the reins of the company to his 30-year-old son, Dino. "I have tried to retire to a villa in Thailand but I get bored after two weeks. To keep up my interest, I am developing Asia's first marina resort, which I will target at Westerners who want to sail in warm blue waters amid beautiful islands", he told the paper. Lalvani's daughter Divia recently entered the millionaire ranks independently after selling her stake in the Knightsbridge restaurant, Zuma.
Source: IANS