AO founder Roberts says float will boost region
JOHN Roberts, founder and chief executive of online retailer AO says the company’s forthcoming flotation on the stock market, will boost jobs and economic growth in the North West.
Mr Roberts said the goal is to expand the business across Europe, beginning with a launch in Germany, said the deal would be “one of the best things to happen to Bolton” in terms of employment growth.
“Bolton, as we grow and internationalise will absolutely remain the HQ, and will benefit from the investment in people and IT.
“We have spent 14 years building the starting blocks and the IPO will give us the firepower to make the most of the opportunity we have created.”
Mr Roberts said he had visited large numbers of potential investors on both sides of the Atlantic and AO had been very well received: “The process has given us a profile in the US that we didn’t have before and the response has been phenomenal.
“They really get e-commerce and what it is to be a growth business. Ultimately, it is our ambition to be a leading European online electrical retailer,”
AO.com, which has its distribution base in Crewe as well as its Bolton head office, now employs around 1,000 people.
The company has lined-up Brian McBride, the chairman of Asos the fashion retailer, and a former UK MD of Amazon, for the IPO in March.
A price for the shares has not been fixed, but the expectation is AO will be valued between £800m and £1.4bn. Mr Robert currently owns around 40% of the company and will become a multi, multi-millionaire as a result of the deal.
Mr Roberts launched the business after quitting his job at the now defunct Manchester kitchens, bathrooms and bedrooms retailer Limelight Group. He was bet £1 by a friend, Alan Langford, that he wouldn’t take the plunge.
He says AO’s customer service proposition has underpinned the growth of the business, which now has a 24% share of the UK online market.
“When we launched electrical retail was not synonymous with service – I don’t think many could spell it, let alone execute it.”
AO, which sells large appliances such as washing machines and ovens, also said it wanted to start selling televisions.
Revenues for the nine months to the end of December were £281.1m, an increase of more than 40% on the same period in 2012.
