Founder of Joules sells 5m shares in his business

THE founder of Joules has sold more than five million shares in the business.

Corporate broker Peel Hunt, which acted for Tom Joule, said he sold around 5.25 million ordinary shares in the country casuals chain at a price of £2.32 per share.

Peel Hunt said he sold the shares - representing around 4.7 per cent of the company’s total shares - to broaden his portfolio.

He now owns 21.8 per cent of the Leicestershire-based business. Mr Joule, the company’s chief brand officer, bought 1.25 million extra shares in the chain last April, as part of a broader effort to pump cash into the business when the pandemic first hit.

Joules saw its online sales rise 45 per cent in the second half of 2020 – helping restrict the impact of lockdown shop closures to an overall drop in revenues of 15 per cent for the six months.

The 53-year-old started Joules in his home town of Market Harborough in 1989 after buying 80 per cent of the family clothing firm from his father, Ian.

He sold socks, wellies and hats at agricultural fairs and equestrian shows before supplying Cotswolds and seaside shops, then designing his own range of distinctive, branded goods.

The business floated on London’s junior market in May 2016, at a time when sales and profits were growing exponentially.

Peel Hunt said: “Tom remains a very substantial shareholder in the company and his working relationship with, and commitment to, the company is unchanged.

“The remainder of the company’s shares controlled by Tom Joule following the placing will be subject to a lock-up which ends 6 months after completion of the placing (subject to waiver by Peel Hunt and to certain customary exceptions).”

It said the shares sold were held by Mr Joule directly and by various discretionary trusts controlled by him.

He last sold shares in Joules in 2016.