One of the North East’s fastest growing companies has announced a Stock Market placing that will value it at more than £100m.
Kitwave, a wholesale retail group based in North Shields, is proposing to place 54m shares on the AIM exchange at a price of 150p. The placing aims to raise £64m for the company and £17.6m for selling shareholders.
The placing - which comes after a period of major growth for Kitwave, mainly through acquisitions of smaller wholesalers around the 海角视频 - will value the company at around £105m.
Kitwave said the placing had been ‘significantly over-subscribed’ and had attracted support from ‘high quality institutional investors’.
The company said that it would make an application for admission to the London Stock Exchange on May 24, at which point its directors and senior management would own just less than a quarter (22.3%) of its ordinary shares.
It said it intended to use the net proceeds of the placing to reduce its debt and pay expenses.
Kitwave chief executive Paul Young said: “We are delighted with the strong support shown by our new investors, which we view as a highly positive endorsement of Kitwave’s strategy to grow and capitalise upon the large addressable market that we are well positioned to serve.
“To date, we have executed a highly successful buy-and-build strategy, having acquired and integrated 10 wholesale distributors into the group since 2011, and we are confident that trading on AIM will enable us to continue to support this strategy.
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“Furthermore, the directors believe that admission will enhance the profile of the group and its brands, improve Kitwave’s position with key suppliers, strengthen the group’s balance sheet, and provide the group with greater ability to incentivise and retain key employees going forward.
“Kitwave has worked hard to build its reputation as a trusted brand ambassador and provide the excellent levels of service that we pride ourselves on. We are confident that Admission to AIM will enable us to further improve our services to existing and prospective customers across the 海角视频 and globally.
“We look forward to an exciting future as a public company and generating shareholder value.”
Kitwave was formed in 1987 after the acquisition of single wholesaler in North Shields specialising in confectionery.
Through a series of acquisitions, it now has more than 1,000 employees and a network of 26 wholesale depots supplying a wide range of food, alcohol and tobacco to around 38,000 shop owners.
Its most recent published accounts showed turnover of £366.6m and operating profit of £9.9m.
Kitwave said it was well placed to capitalise on further growth in a ‘highly fragmented market’ and could boast year-on-year earnings growth and margin improvements, as well as an experienced and ambitious board and management team.