The resort firm runs four centres in the UK

Shares in the group rose 4.5p to 104.5p on its maiden day of trading on the Alternative Investment Market (AIM).

The company now plans to move its listing to the main London market as soon as regulations allow.

There was also more good news as the firm said sales for the four months to September were 11.7% up on last year.

However, the firm did warn that the figures in its trading update did not include a contribution from the holiday firm's Elveden Forest site in Suffolk.

Bookings up

The village only re-opened in July after being closed since a fire in April last year.

But, the group did say bookings and profitability at Elveden Forest are currently ahead of budget.

And despite the village's closure, Center Parcs UK managed to report sales of �160.7m for the year to April 30.

The company operates four holiday parks in the UK - Elveden, Longleat Forest near Bath, Oasis Whinfell Forest in the Lake District and Sherwood Forest near Nottingham -and employs about 4,000 staff.

Its new owner Arbor, a consortium of fund managers led by Collins Stewart changed its name following the flotation to Centre Parks UK. The company raised an initial �245m with the �1-a-share placing.

Previous owner, MidOcean has already sold its 50% stake in Center Parcs Europe - the operator of holiday parks in the Netherlands, France, Belgium and Germany - for �189m.