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2GB interview ISA Group CEO

ISA Group CEO, Wayne Jones chats to 2GB about indoor skydiving and our upcoming vertical wind tunnel at Penrith:

2GB Radio Interview – 02/03/2013

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The Daily Telegraph – ‘Construction on the first indoor skydiving facility begins in Penrith’

Written by Chris Georgakopoulos

CONSTRUCTION on the first indoor skydiving facility in Australia has started in Penrith.

Premier Barry O’Farrell attended the sod-turning ceremony at Penrith Panthers.

Indoor Skydive Australia Group CEO Wayne Jones said the facility – next to Harry’s Cafe de Wheels – would have wide appeal.

“We will find kids as young as three, families, sporting clubs, national and international tourists lined up to experienced the feeling of human flight,” Mr Jones said.

“Skydiving enthusiasts and military units from around the world, including from our own Australian Defence Force and specialised units from within, will utilise our facility for training in a safe and cost-effective environment.”

The facility is due to be completed by the first quarter of next year.

Panthers Group CEO Warren Wilson said the iFLY concept would become an exceptional part of the club’s precinct.

“A key part of this vision and property is creating the Panthers entertainment, leisure and sporting precinct for not only Penrith but greater western Sydney,” Mr Wilson said.

Mr O’Farrell was delighted to see another development in western Sydney.

“It is a development that will add to the tourism infrastructure in Sydney’s west, which will create and support 220 jobs during construction and initiate 21 jobs during operation,” Mr O’Farrell said.

“Can I also acknowledge the role of Penrith Council and the Penrith Business Alliance, which is undoubtedly the best chamber that I deal with anywhere across the city. They are forward thinking, determined to deliver jobs to this part of Sydney and encourage businesses like this to come forward.”

View the full article here 

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The Bull – ‘2 Stellar IPOS to watch’

Written by Tony Featherstone

Indoor Skydive and Osprey Medical worth watching.

Optimists had to dig deep to find positives in last year’s float market. Capital raised was the lowest in more than a decade and listing volumes tumbled. But beneath the float train-wreck has been some surprisingly strong performances that eagled-eyed speculators should follow

Not that you would know it by coverage of the Initial Public Offerings (IPO) market. Micro-cap floats usually get little media and broking coverage before their listing and even less after. The days of using a full-service broking firm for access to floats and research on new companies are a distant memory.

The good news is this lack of coverage creates opportunities in micro-cap stocks for speculators who understand the risks of trading illiquid stocks. Floats have added complications as vendor shares are released from escrow, and able to be sold, within a year or two of listing.

Caveats aside, some IPOs have impressed since listing in the past year. Below are two largely unknown small-caps that have captured the market’s attention this year, but are yet to attract much interest from the mainstream media or sharebroking community.

1. Indoor Skydive Australia Group (ISA)

The tourism operator’s float stood out last year. In an IPO market dominated by explorers, ISA sought $12 million to build Australia’s first simulated skydiving attraction in western Sydney.

ISA looked like a challenging float: it was about to start construction on its attraction and probably a year away from opening it. In a news-hungry market, a dearth of announcements can be a death-knell for small-caps that have to work overtime to maintain the market’s interest.

But ISA shares raced from a 20-cent issue price to as high as 50 cents after their January listing, before easing to 35 cents, on low volume. ISA has plenty of supporters in the skydiving community and its founders’ military connections – both are ex-SAS Regiment soldiers – are a big asset.

The company’s biggest selling point is the success of similar attractions overseas. iFly Singapore was hugely popular upon launch in May 2011, with skydiving enthusiasts and novices eager to experience the thrill of skydiving in wind tunnels. ISA, through its iFly Down Under brand, could have similar success.

ISA needs to leverage its first-mover advantage by expanding rapidly to other states. Smaller attractions are planned for the Gold Coast and Melbourne, and ISA wants the military to use up to 20 per cent of the facility’s capacity, instead of going to the US or UK. Its Sydney facility will be built next to Penrith Panthers Rugby League Club’s main entrance and within 50 kilometres of Holsworthy Army Base.

ISA is obviously speculative. But unlike many micro-caps, it at least has a product that has had strong success overseas, has a well-regarded board, and is potentially within 12 to 18 months of first revenue.

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The Daily Telegraph – ‘Packer college brings $10 million in jobs to west’

Written by Andrew Carswell

IT will be unabashed luxury, a creative masterpiece, a centrepiece for Australia’s biggest urban development – and it will all be staffed with eager workers from western Sydney.

Billionaire gaming mogul James Packer will build a $10 million college in Penrith to train 1250 staff to work in what he claims will be one of the world’s greatest hotels – his $1 billion six-star Crown Sydney Hotel Resort at Barangaroo. The Crown chairman yesterday signed a deal with the Penrith’s Panthers club that will see the state-of-the-art training facility built within the club’s proposed community centre.

Mirrored on the company’s successful in-house Crown College in Melbourne, which has trained 4300 apprentices in the past 10 years, the Penrith centre will feature a school of business, a hotel and food academy built around a large-scale replica restaurant, and a fully equipped gaming hall.

Under the terms of the memorandum of understanding, Panthers NRL stars will be hired as mentors for for the trainees and, in turn, gain a career pathway after football. Crown will also push into local Penrith schools and create avenues for students to complete school-based traineeships and apprenticeships. Panthers staff also will be given the opportunity to be trained in the college and seconded to work at Barangaroo when required.

For Mr Packer, as with the extensive footprint of his proposed casino resort on Sydney Harbour, location was imperative.

He personally wanted to offer an opportunity to western Sydney, where high-class training avenues are seldom found and luxury-focused hospitality jobs are even rarer, and where his passion for giving the indigenous community the tools for success can be utilised.

“Crown Sydney, if it is approved, will employ 1250 people; this announcement today gets those jobs to where they are needed most – Sydney’s west,” he said.

“This partnership will mean real training and real jobs. It’s not about certificates that go nowhere, it’s about getting people into long-term and secure employment.”

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The West Australian – ‘Investors avoid small-cap IPOs’

By Nick Sas

The lethargic initial public offering market surrounding small cap stocks is continuing from last year as investors shy away from the challenging market conditions, a leading IPO business accountancy firm says.

Partners at the Perth-based arm of HLB Mann Judd, which handled eight floats last year, say only one IPO is on their books so far this year, with planned market listings well down on last year.

Five companies have come on to the boards this year, including WA-focused uranium explorer Zeus Resources which has halved in value since listing last week.

The challenging conditions are a continuation of last year, with just 46 IPOs completed compared to 104 in 2011. Of the companies that listed last year 48 per cent recorded losses.

Speaking at an IPO breakfast yesterday, A1 Consolidated Gold chairman Ashok Parekh said part of the blame for the lack of confidence in the IPO market should fall on the Federal Government, which had created uncertainty through the mining and carbon tax.

Mr Parekh, who also chairs Macphersons Resources, said the high labour cost environment in Australia also contributed to the lack of investor faith in new listings.

He said many small cap companies had been looking at overseas investors to fill the void as the local markets dried up.

HLB Mann Judd partner Norman Neill said alternatives such as backdoor listings and merger and acquisition activity would become increasingly common this year as private companies looked for alternatives.

However, Mr Parekh said many managers and directors of small caps were too concerned about their own personal salaries to agree to mergers, and were not focused on shareholder wealth.

Despite the doom and gloom, NSW-based Indoor Skydiving Australia, which listed on January 18, has doubled in value from its 20¢ listing price to close at 40¢ yesterday.

Other companies to list so far this year include Perth explorer Cott Oil and Gas, NSW energy and water conservation company Ecosave Holdings and Singapore-based oil and gas contractor Oilfield Workforce Group.

 

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Proactive Investors – ‘Indoor Skydive Australia Group to take leap on the ASX’

Article by Bevis Yeo

Indoor Skydive Australia Group (ASX:IDZ) has leapt into the ASX after raising almost $7.4 million from its IPO.

The company plans to construct and operate the only large scale commercial indoor skydiving facility in Australia, which will also be the second of its type in the Asia Pacific region.

Indoor Skydive will begin trading at 11am (AEDT) on Friday 18 January.

The planned facility – to be sited within the Penrith Rugby League Club redevelopment at Penrith – will house one of the largest Verical Wind Tunnels (VWT) available in the world and will be able to accommodate up to eight professional skydivers, or two amateurs, at a time for training or entertainment.

Professional sky divers are required ongoing training to remain competitive as do military operators.

As such, VWT infrastructure is complementary to skydiving as it provides virtual or simulated training in a controlled environment that is not subject to weather and other factors.

International organisations have also recommended the use of VWT for simulating training to prepare beginners for full licencing to undertake individual skydiving.

This facility is expecting to start operating no later than January 2014.

Indoor Skydive believes there is potential for it to operate a portfolio of VWTS located throughout Australia, meeting the demand of users located in capital cities and suburbs.

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The Courier-Mail – ‘Investors show indoor skydiving plan has wings’

Article by Sophie Foster

Despite a lacklustre response from the market, Queensland rich-lister Stephen Baxter was happy yesterday with the first day’s trade in an indoor skydiving initiative backed by his family trust. Indoor Skydive Australia Group (listed on the Australian stock market under IDZ) opened its first day’s trade at 21.5¢, but closed down 1.5¢ at its 20¢ issue price.

Mr Baxter, who family trust Birkdale Holdings held 27 per cent of shares in the lead-up to listing, said “it was a great day”. “It was a great result for shareholders and the persistence of Wayne (Jones) and Danny (Hogan) has really paid off,” he said.

Mr Jones who is ISA Group chief executive, is a 21-year defence force veteran, serving 14 years with the Special Air Service, while Mr Hogan, chief operating officer, had 15 years with the Special Air Service Regiment.

Mr Baxter, a non-executive director of ISA Group, said preparatory work on the Penrith site was expected to begin in the last week of this month. The company’s first indoor skydiving tunnel sits on a plot next to the Penrith Panthers Rugby League Club. “It will all kick off the day after Australian Day.” Mr Baxter said. “We are planning a breaking of the ground ceremony in mid to late February. We’ve activated the contract with the American supplier for the manufacture of their equipment in the US.”

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The Addicted set benchmark for Australian Indoor Skydiving

ISA Group’s sponsored team, The Addicted, proudly put their country on the regional map by competing in the Indoor Skydiving World Championships; the first time Australia has competed in Vertical Formation Skydiving. Australia was also the only country to compete that did not have a VWT – a testament to the team’s talent and performance. It is akin to training for Mountain Climbing in a country without mountains.

With a growing international interest in VWTs, the forthcoming construction of the Penrith Facility will support national teams like The Addicted and provide Australia’s indoor skydiving community with the technology to train and enhance their skills. ISA Group intend to position Australia as a leading provider of simulated skydiving training and use the facility as a future platform for international competitions.

 

View footage of their great performances in Singapore:

 

 

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The West Australian – ‘Indoor Skydiving set to take off in Australia.’

Written by Gareth Costa

Super-computer processing power has made simulation of flying a real and cost-effective way to train pilots, but mostly raw power is needed to overcome gravity to simulate free-fall skydiving. 

If Indoor Skydive Australia reaches its capital raising target of $12 million it will build a 4.9m diameter vertical wind tunnel (VWT) with four fans and total output of 1343kW at the Penrith Panthers entertainment complex in NSW, the first of its kind in Australia. ISA hopes to attract some of the 100,000 registered skydivers in the country, 800 armed forces personnel needing to regularly and cost-effectively hone their skills and adventure seekers looking for a thrill, all at a cost of $80 to $150 for a 50-second flight.

Managing director Wayne Jones, an ex-special forces soldier, said the army now sent personnel to the US for skydive simulations. The prospectus notes the 2009 Defence White Paper and Defence Capability plan recognised that an increased use of simulation contributed to defence capability.

There are currently about 30 VWTs in the world. The closest was in Singapore, and Mr Jones said in its first six months it produced revenue of about $3.9 million, in line with ISA’s targeted revenues. Mr Jones said the raising target had not yet been reached, but he was confident it would be by the closing date of December 5, after which existing shareholders would own 32 per cent of the issued shares. Some $9.5 million will be used to establish the facility. The proposed facility would trade under the international iFly brand and is to open next year.


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The Herald Sun – ‘Mates reach for the sky.’

 

Article By Ian McPhedran, Defence writer

MOST retired Special Air Service soldiers work in the security industry, but Danny Hogan and Wayne Jones have broken the mould thanks to fallen comrade Blaine Diddams.

Both men served alongside Sgt Diddams before he was killed in action in Afghanistan on July 2 this year.

When the two SAS patrol commander sergeants raised their idea to build a network of indoor skydiving centres with their mate prior to retirement this year, he put them in touch with his uncle John Diddams.

And so Indoor Skydive Australia was born with John Diddams as the company secretary.

Sadly, Sgt Diddams did not live to see the company formed, but the prospectus carries a moving dedication to the fallen soldier on its final page.

Indoor Skydive Australia plans to build several wind tunnels around the country including St Kilda, Sydney, the Gold Coast, Perth and throughout Asia.

The centres will include a five-metre-wide by 11-metre-high wind chamber powered by four 335kW fans fitted in the ceiling generating winds of up to 250km/h.

They will be open to everyone aged from five to 95 years — from first-timers to world-class sky divers and paratroopers — at a cost of about $100 for an hour that includes training, suiting up and two “skydives”.

Further information is available at www.indoorskydiveaustralia.com.au