Online appliances delivery firm AO has announced its intention to float on the London Stock Exchange next month in a share sale that could value it at as much as £1.2 billion.
The company, which operates the AO.com website, did not indicate the expected valuation but said it planned to raise £60 million new capital and said that existing shareholders will seek to sell down their stakes.
The value, which has been the subject of speculation, would make it the biggest ever ecommerce float in the UK after Ocado was forced to reduce the size of its stock market listing to £895 million.
It was initially estimated to be worth £300 million but that was been dramatically revised upwards last month when the Financial Time said valuations of £1 billion to £1.2 billion are now being discussed.
Website AO.com offers 30 brands and 4,000 products, 80 per cent of which are available for next day delivery across the majority of UK post codes.
It has increased revenue by 29.6 per cent over the past two years and increased ebitda by 57 per cent annually over the same period. Sales in the year to March were £275.5 million and profit was £10.7 million.
AO controls 24 per cent of the large appliances online market in the UK, according to strategy consultants OC&C. That comprises 19 per cent from its own site and 5 per cent from appliances orders it fulfills for other retailers including Next and Boots.
It said the online large appliances market is expected to grow at 11 per cent a year between now and 2016.
It said it plans to achieve further scale by launching an operation in Germany where it estimates the market is worth around 6.6 billion.
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