Discount retail firm B&M gets ready to float May 18, 2014 DISCOUNT retailer B&M is readying a stock market debut that values the firm at more than £2bn, in a move which could be announced as early as this week. The Liverpool-based company would follow discounting rival Poundland, which raised £375m on its entry into the London market back in March. B&M, which has grown from [...]
Poundland’s sales near £1bn May 8, 2014 CASH conscious shoppers continued to flock to Poundland for bargain buys last year, boosting the discount retailer’s sales to just under £1bn. The chain, which has benefited from the polarisation in spending in the market, opened a net 70 stores in the year to 30 March, helping to deliver £998m revenues, up 13.3 per cent [...]
Kent Reliance is back in £600m OneSavings IPO May 7, 2014 ONESAVINGS Bank is floating on the main London market, the private equity-backed lender said yesterday, with an expected value of £500m to £600m. Investor JC Flowers took a major stake in the Kent Reliance Building Society in a recapitalisation deal in 2010, restructuring and renaming the firm. It hopes OneSavings’ range of specialist lending brands, [...]
Best of the Brokers for 08 May 2014 May 7, 2014 To appear in Best of the Brokers, email your research to notes@cityam.com BALFOUR BEATTY UBS has upgraded the infrastructure firm from “sell” to “neutral” but cut its target from 260p to 225p following this week’s profit warning and the departure of boss Andrew McNaughton. The broker continues to harbour doubts about Balfour’s plan to refocus [...]
JP Morgan gets Poundland gig May 6, 2014 JP MORGAN pulled further ahead in the corporate broking league tables yesterday as Poundland appointed the investment bank. It means JP Morgan now has 220 broking clients, including 34 of the FTSE 100 and 92 of the FTSE 250. Poundland is a FTSE 250-sized firm, but with its recent listing has not yet been added to the index [...]
Fat Face unveils London listing to pay off debt May 1, 2014 FAMILY friendly retailer Fat Face yesterday became the latest private equity-backed retailer to tee up a listing on the London stock market, after announcing plans to raise £110m to cut debt. The business, which has about 200 stores across the UK, will offer shares to City fund managers after private equity backer Bridgepoint moved to [...]
Shoe Zone putting its best foot forward with a £50m stock float April 28, 2014 DISCOUNT footwear chain Shoe Zone has become the latest retailer queuing up to float on the London Stock Exchange this year. The family-run chain, which runs 554 stores in the UK and Ireland, is looking to raise up to £50m in an initial public offering (IPO) on London’s Alternative Investment Market next month that is [...]
Luke Johnson’s chain Patisserie Valerie to float April 23, 2014 ENTREPRENEUR Luke Johnson is making a return to the public markets for the first time in over 20 years with the £170m flotation of his cafe chain Patisserie Holdings. The group, which runs five brands including Patisserie Valerie, Philpotts and Baker & Spice, said yesterday it plans to raise £33m of new capital on Aim [...]
Card Factory to deliver £700m float in London April 22, 2014 CARD Factory boss Richard Hayes said yesterday that it hopes to emulate the success of other value retailers such as Poundland after announcing plans for float that could value the group at around £700m. The budget greetings chain, which has 700 stores, intends to raise £90m through an initial public offering that will allow its [...]
City & Gild: How Tesco can make us fall back in love with its brand April 17, 2014 Tesco’s current strategy worries me enormously, especially off the back of a six per cent fall in profits. Chief executive Philip Clarke has confidently explained, “Tesco will be firmly established as a middle-market retailer, which offers low prices and good quality – all under one roof”. My translation of this is essentially, “we’re going to [...]