Europe’s main status magnificence retailer, Douglas Group, suffered a disappointing inventory market return on Thursday March 21 in Frankfurt. After ten years of absence, the group determined to come back again to the inventory alternate with the goal to scale back its debt.
Douglas priced its preliminary public providing (IPO) at 26 euros (US$28.3) per share on Tuesday. The inventory opened at 25.50 euros on Thursday and value 23.06 euros on the finish of the day, a great eleven % lower than the difficulty worth, which was already on the decrease finish of the difficulty vary of as much as 30 euros.
Based mostly on this worth of 23.06 euros, the Düsseldorf-headquartered firm, could be priced at a valued of round 2.5 billion euros.
“The deleveraging related to the IPO will improve our monetary flexibility and supply extra assist for our profitable growth,” Douglas Chief Govt Sander van der Laan mentioned earlier this month.
Shares of the Douglas group had been withdrawn from the Inventory Alternate in 2013 by its co-owners on the time, the Creation fund and the Kreke household. In 2015, the group was bought to CVC Capital Companions, one other non-public fairness fund, which was holding 84% of the shares earlier than the IPO. The free float now stands at round 32%, with CVC Capital Companions and the Kreke household holding 54.4% and 10.2% of the shares, respectively.
The 2 non-public homeowners have additionally dedicated to injecting round 300 million euros to bolster the group’s stability sheet.
The group, which sells perfumes, skincare and make-up merchandise in round 1,850 shops in 22 European international locations, via manufacturers akin to Douglas, Nocibé, parfumdreams and Area of interest Magnificence, closed almost 20% of its shops in 2021 to strengthen its on-line gross sales exercise.
Within the 2022/23 monetary 12 months, Douglas generated gross sales of 4.1 billion euros, a rise of 12.1%, and a web revenue of 17 million euros after a number of years of heavy losses. The corporate’s purpose is to succeed in the 5 billion gross sales mark by 2026. The group has launched a program to develop and increase its retailer community. By the tip of the monetary 12 months 2025/26, Douglas plans so as to add greater than 200 shops to its portfolio, and greater than 400 shops are set to be upgraded or refurbished.
