Bargain Booze raises £64m in market debut
BARGAIN Booze’s parent company Conviviality Retail made its stock market debut this morning raising £64m.
It has placed 64 million shares with institutional investors at £1 each.
There are a total of 66.7 million shares in issue giving the company a market value of £66.7m.
The Alternative Investment Market (AIM) float provides an exit for the Manchester office of ECI Partners which backed a £63.5m management buyout in 2006 and holds 75%. It said the deal had allowed it to more than quadruple its original investment.
It also gives the group the resources to fund an expansion of its 611 outlets – 461 of which are run by franchisees – into the south east. It also wants to add to the 368 shops that sell groceries as well as drinks.
Chief executive Diana Hunter said: “We are delighted to be starting life as a public company today and welcome all of our new shareholders to the company.
“We have an exciting future ahead of us with our new debt free capital structure, an incentivisation plan that aligns our 461 franchisees with management and our shareholders and capital to expand our footprint of stores from our heartland in the North West.”
In the year to the end of April earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) were £12.5m on revenues of £372m.
ECI’s John Hayhurst said: “The business has been a very strong and resilient investment for ECI over the past seven years. We would like to thank Diana Hunter, Roger Pedder, and the full management team at Bargain Booze. The business’s strong brand, clear value proposition and loyal customer base combined with a high level of cash generation, franchisee dedication and an extended range of fascias has led to this successful realisation.
“We believe the company is now well positioned for the next stage of its development with Diana Hunter leading the IPO and driving some very clear business improvements. The franchisee incentive plan which has been introduced as part of the IPO and which we were keen to support should result in a very clear alignment of interests between the business and its franchisees and provides a very strong platform for successful development of the business from which the franchisees should see clear benefits.”
Manchester-based Zeus Capital advised the company, with Nick Cowles leading the deal.
