Leading Japanese independent distributor Gaga Communications officially listed on the NASDAQ Japan market on Friday, June 29. Opening at $8.25 (Y1,030), the share price rose to a high of $8.53 (Y1,064) and fell to a low of $7.89 (Y985) before closing at $7.95 (Y992). A total of 62,950 shares were traded.

Launched in 1986 as a seller of foreign videos, principally grade Z genre titles, Gaga has since risen to the front ranks of the nation's film distributors under the leadership of founder and president Tetsuya Fujimura. Recent releases include The Mask, Seven, Notting Hill, End Of Days, The Green Mile, Hannibal and The Mexican. The company also operates a cable and satellite movie information channel, Comin' Soon TV, and a publishing house, Gaga Publishing.

In fiscal 2000, Gaga recorded consolidated sales of $156m (Y19.4bn) and current profit of $3.5m (Y434m). Corresponding projections for fiscal 2001 are $193.8m (Y24bn) and $5.0m (Y622m). As of April 30, the company had a total of 8,331,852 shares, for a capitalisation of $23.6m (Y2.9bn). On June 29, it issued an additional 1.5 million shares, trading in blocks of 100.