Market debut for Manchester online womenswear fashion brand
Online womenswear fashion brand, In the Style, became the latest Manchester-based listed company today when its share were admitted to the Alternative Investment Market (AIM).
Last week the company revealed it had raised £11m through a placing of 5,500,000 new 0.25p ordinary shares, priced at 200p per share, while existing shareholders placed 24,500,000 of their shares at the same price, raising £49m for the sellers. The placings were significantly oversubscribed.
The placing price gives the company, founded by chief executive Adam Frisby in his bedroom in 2013, a market capitalisation of approximately £105m.
In early trading this morning the share price had improved to 241p per share.
Liberum Capital is acting as nominated adviser and sole broker.
In The Style is a fast-growing e-commerce womenswear fashion brand with an innovative influencer collaboration model.
It is a pure-play e-commerce brand with a loyal, growing customer base of women predominantly aged between 16 and 35, which, it says, champions female empowerment, inclusivity, body confidence and real beauty.
The brand has innovated a differentiated influencer collaboration model, which sees it work with influencers on a long-term basis to collaboratively design, develop and promote branded fashion collections, as an authentic and cost-effective way to drive customer engagement and sales.
Adam Frisby, said: ”Today is a really exciting day for In The Style.
“Our successful admission to AIM is a milestone we are delighted to have achieved.
“It has been an incredible journey over the last seven years for the business and I’m beyond proud of the differentiated and inclusive brand In The Style has become.”
He added: “We are very pleased to welcome our new shareholders to the business and I am really excited for the next chapter of the In The Style journey.”
While In The Style has joined the markets today, two Greater Manchester-based businesses have de-listed.
Smart meter group Calisen, and communications giant TalkTalk have both been taken private following recent takeovers.
Calisen agreed a £1.43bn deal with a consortium of funds last December, less than a year after its £1.32bh flotation. The group includes divisions of BlackRock, Goldman Sachs and Abu Dhabi’s sovereign wealth fund, Mubadal.
It was acquired by US buyout group Kohlberg Kravis Roberts (KKR) in 2016 in a deal believed to be worth around £1bn.
Announcing annual results for the year to December 31, 2020, two weeks ago, it revealed sales of £248.1m compared with £208.8m the previous year, and a pre-tax loss of £17.2m, which was a huge improveent on the previous year’s pre-tax loss of £82.2m.
Last December, Telecoms group TalkTalk agreed takeover terms with Toscafund Asset Management as part of a £1.112bn deal that has taken the Salford-based business private.
During the same month the group issued half year results for the six months to September 30, which showed revenues of £740m, down from £792m in the same period in 2019, and a £3m pre-tax loss, compared with a £1m pre-tax profit the previous year.
