Plymouth-headquartered building and DIY e-commerce retailer CMO Group Plc said it is in line for even more growth after raising more than £27m from a share offer.
The company was admitted to the Alternative Investment Market (AIM) of the London Stock Exchange on July 8 and said it will use the cash generated to grow the company and create jobs.
The share offer raised £27.3m for the company and another £17.7m for selling shareholders. At a placing price of 132p per share the market capitalization of the firm is now about £95m.
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CMO, which attracted “blue chip” investors by its share offer, is the 海角视频’s largest online-only retailer of building materials and saw sales soar in 2021 as it benefited from a lockdown boom in DIY.
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The proceeds attributable to the company from the share offer, together with its existing cash resources, are now intended to provide CMO with a long-term funding model; execute on strategic opportunities, both organically and through M&A; reduce debt and restructure the group's balance sheet thereby providing further flexibility to fund future growth.
CMO, which has its Plymouth base at Burrington Way, acquired online tile retailer Total Tiles, which is itself seeing impressive growth, in 2020.
CMO also intends to attract, recruit and retain key employees with further incentivisation through equity ownership and long-term incentive schemes.
Dean Murray, CMO chief executive, said: "We are very proud to be marking a landmark day in the history of CMO. The business has grown rapidly taking advantage of its innovative and differentiated model providing today’s internet savvy customer with the broadest range of product at highly competitive prices, delivered conveniently and efficiently.
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“A successful completion of our IPO and admission to trading on AIM is an exciting next step on our growth journey. I would like to take this opportunity to thank our team for their support over the years. They have helped to build a brilliant business that is perfectly positioned to continue to thrive and build its share of an enormous marketplace.”
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He added: “We are very pleased to welcome a strong blue chip shareholder base who through their investment have endorsed the business by taking a stake in the company’s future. We look forward to working together on this next chapter in the company's development."
On admission to AIM, private equity firm Key Capital Partners owns about 26.8% of the issued shares, CMO's founders own 10.4%, and senior management own about 6.4%.
CMO operates seven specialist websites: Roofingsuperstore.co.uk, Drainagesuperstore.co.uk, Insulationsuperstore.co.uk, Doorsuperstore.co.uk, Tileandfloorsuperstore.co.uk, cmotrade.co.uk and Totaltiles.co.uk.
Its sites list more than 75,000 products, and it boasts its “unique digital hybrid service model”, developed over more than 10 years, combines specialist advice and expertise tailored to category and customer needs online, bridging the gap between traditional bricks-and-mortar retailers and digital retailing.
It has seen a strong start to the year with like-for-like sales growth, for the five months to the end of May 2021, in excess of 30% compared to the previous year and total sales growth, including acquisitions, in excess of 70% over the same period.