SimplyBiz to float in £130m London listing
SimplyBiz, a business support company set up by the chairman of the Huddersfield Giants Super League Club Ken Davy in 2002, is set to float on the London Stock Exchange in a listing which values the business at £130m.
The compliance and support services business, based at The John Smith’s Stadium in Huddersfield, said it had raised £30m from an institutional placing of ordinary shares at 170p and £34.6m for selling shareholders through an institutional placing.
The company, which employs more than 200 staff, supports around 3,500 firms and has a membership base in excess of 6,000 individuals.
Its founder Davy is well known in the financial services sector. In 1983, he created the IFA network concept for financial advisers, taking DBS Financial Management from being a start-up business to being traded on the AIM followed by a move to a full stock-market listing in 1997 prior to it being acquired in 2001.
SimplyBiz has been run by joint chief executives Matt Timmins and Neil Stevens since 2010. Over this period revenues have grown from £12m to £44m. Profits grew 17% last year to £4.8m.
Timmins said: “We are delighted to announce our proposed placing and admission to AIM. Our IPO will mark the next stage in our growth story, building on our long, profitable track record.
“Our business has evolved significantly since 2002 and we are now the UK’s leading provider of compliance and business services to directly authorised financial advisers. Through our entrepreneurial culture and clarity of strategic vision we have become a disruptive force in financial intermediation, building a membership base of over 3,400 adviser firms and associated proprietary network of 135 financial institutions.
“Our business is underpinned by strong structural growth drivers and benefits from a highly visible earnings stream. We are well placed to deliver ongoing margin expansion and profitability and look forward to continuing to deliver for our shareholders post-IPO.”
Stevens added: “Our IPO on the London Stock Exchange will further raise the profile of The SimplyBiz Group, providing additional momentum to our growth strategy and enabling us to put in place additional incentive schemes for our staff.
“We will remain focused on delivering high quality solutions for our customers and continuing to support them in all aspects of running a compliant and successful advice business.
“Our new institutional shareholders will deliver long-term capital that will enable us to develop the group in the years ahead; we welcome them on board and look forward to sharing our growth journey together.”
The float of SimplyBiz is set to take place on April 4.
