Bottoms up for Virgin Wines

Doorstep delivery firm enjoys sparkling stock market debut

VIRGIN WINES made a sparkling debut as its arrival on London’s junior AIM market today was greeted with a 20% rise in share price.

The doorstep wine delivery firm placed 6.6 million new ordinary shares and 17.7 million existing shares at an offer price of 197p per share, in a listing set to value the firm at £110 million and make selling shareholders nearly £35 million. Shares soared on opening to hit a high of 232p before settling back slightly at 229.5p.

Senior management now hold just over 20% of the company. Retail traders were not invited to participate in the IPO with the shares reserved for institutional investors.

Chief executive Jay Wright said: “Our successful IPO and admission to AIM represents a significant new chapter in the group’s long-term development”.

The firm, which has about 147,000 paying subscribers and delivered more than a million cases in 2020, is among a string of online lockdown winners executing London listings after seeing demand soar during the pandemic. Recent floats have included The Hut Group, online greetings card retailer Moonpig and auction platform ATG, while Deliveroo and Darktrace are planning multibillion-pound IPOs.

Virgin Wines floated as it emerged the Chancellor plans to shake-up stock market listings rules in a bid to help London compete with New York and Amsterdam as the place for fast-growing companies to IPO. The Government is hoping tech floats will help drive Britain’s recovery and it has emerged Rishi Sunak will publish a review written by former EU financial services commissioner Lord Jonathan Hill alongside his Budget.

London has been losing out to Amsterdam, which has become Europe’s largest share trading centre. The review is expected to propose changes attractive to entrepreneurs, such as the chance for founders to retain a “golden share” blocking unwanted takeovers — an idea the LSE itself has backed — and addressing the minimum level of free float.

Susannah Streeter, senior investment and markets analyst at Hargreaves Lansdown, said: “In this speculative climate, it’s even more important that investors… make sure they are really happy with the long-term prospects of the company.’’