Sports firm is set to be listed with £171m value
ROCHDALE-BASED sports retailer Footasylum will have a market value of £171m when it lists on London’s junior market next week.
Set up by the founders of JD Sports the company is expected to begin trading on London’s junior AIM market in November. The IPO valued the business at £171.3m raising £65.4m for Footasylum and existing shareholders, with the first day of dealings due to take place on November 2.
The move will provide the business with the funding and platform to continue its expansion and investment in its new store openings and online retail activities. GCA Altium acted as financial and nominated adviser on the IPO of the fast-growing UK-based fashion retailer.
Footasylum was founded in 2005 by David Makin, an established retail operator who was one of the two co-founders of the JD Sports chain.
He was later joined by John Wardle, the other cofounder of the JD Sports chain. Clare Nesbitt led the IPO having joined the business in 2009 and becoming CEO in 2015.
The business has developed a clear growth strategy to increase its market share, and has plans to open eight to 10 new stores per year, seeing capacity for at least 150 UK stores. The business recorded £147m in revenue, with an EBITDA of £11.2 in FY2017.
The company retails ‘on-trend’ product ranges which are predominantly aimed at 16 to 24 year old fashion-conscious customers and are sourced from an extensive stable of third party and own brands.
These include wellknown sports and casual footwear and apparel brands (for example Adidas, Nike and Under Armour), as well as upand-coming brands and own label products such as Kings Will Dream and Glorious Gangsta.
Footasylum operates a multi-channel model which combines a 61-strong store estate with a fast-growing eCommerce platform and a recently launched wholesale arm for distributing its own brand ranges via a network of partners. eCommerce represented approximately 30% of this year’s revenues.
The business has an impressive management team and board to execute its continued strategy of investment in the expansion of its existing routes to market, technology systems and marketing programmes. The process was led by Phil Adams, Dominic Orsini and Tom Battersby from GCA Altium’s Manchester team and Sam Fuller, Laura Meaden and Tim Richardson in London.
Clare Nesbitt, chief executive officer of Footasylum, said: “Today marks the beginning of an exciting new chapter in the Footasylum story.
“We are delighted that our product-led, multichannel expansion strategy has resonated so strongly with investors.”