Fashion e-tailer raises £11m in flotation placing, valuing company at £105m
In the Style, the Manchester-based online womenswear fashion e-tailer, has raised £11m through a share placing, while a further £49m has been raised for existing shareholders in a sale through a further placing.
The company will be admitted to the Alternative Investment Market (AIM) next Monday (March 15), as part of its flotation plans, it revealed today.
It said the placing was significantly oversubscribed, enabling the company to increase the number of sale shares available to new investors and to set the placing price of 200p per share at the top of the valuation range.
Based on the placing price, the market capitalisation of the company will be approximately £105m.
On admission to AIM, Causeway Capital Partners I LP will own approximately 14.5% of the company, and senior management will own approximately 27.3%.
ITS, which was founded by chief executive Adam Frisby in his bedroom in 2013, said it intends to use the net proceeds of the placing, together with some of its existing cash resources, to continue to invest in growing and developing its social media influencer network, selective brand marketing, entry into certain international markets through its proven influencer model, infrastructure and technology and assist with the move to a new, larger warehouse in 2021 to support further growth.
Admission and commencement of dealings on AIM are expected to take place on March 15, under the ticker ITS.
Adam Frisby said: “We are thrilled by the very positive reception to our IPO from a wide range of high quality institutional investors.
“This is a great testament to In The Style’s differentiated brand, innovative influencer collaboration model, and exciting opportunities for future growth.”
He added: “I’m incredibly proud of the ITS brand and would like to take this opportunity to thank everyone connected with In The Style – including our team, customers, partners and influencers – for their continued support of the business, which has contributed to both its success so far and today’s exciting milestone.
“We are delighted to welcome our new shareholders and are looking forward to the next exciting chapter of In The Style’s journey as a public company.”
As previously announced, two new independent non-executive directors, Nancy Cruickshank and Adam Bellamy, will join the board of directors on admission to AIM.
Nancy is a serial technology entrepreneur and current non-executive director of Flutter Entertainment and Allegro Group amongst others, while Adam is a current non-executive director at Ten Entertainment Group and Loungers. amongst others.
ITS operates in the large, UK womenswear market in which the online sales element is significant and fast growing.
It has delivered unbroken revenue growth since inception in 2013 and is now an established brand within the UK e-commerce fashion market, having delivered £41m net sales in the 12 months to December 31 2020.
The majority of growth has been delivered through authentic collaborations with a growing group of influencers with high levels of engagement with their audiences on social media platforms.
The group said it has an active customer base of 0.7m customers as at December 31, 2020, up 61% when compared with the prior year.
