Market value exceeds £850 million! Online retailer Victorian Plumbing successfully IPOs in London

Foreign media reported that British online bathroom retailer Victorian Plumbing officially launched its stock market in London this morning with a market value of approximately 850 million pounds.

The online bathroom retailer confirmed that its entire issued and to-be-issued share capital is being traded on the London Stock Exchange's AIM market. The company and its existing shareholders are selling 113 million shares at 262 pence per share .

The company itself will also issue just over 4.4 million new shares, and said the placement had received strong support from high-quality institutional investors and was significantly oversubscribed.

The placing of new shares is expected to raise gross proceeds of £11.6 million for Victorian Plumbing, while the placing of the sale shares is expected to raise £285.9 million for the selling shareholders. The £11.6 million proceeds will be used to pay for the IPO and will also be invested in growing the business.

Victorian Plumbing founder and chief executive Mark Radcliffe hailed entry into AIM as a landmark day for the retailer.

Victorian Plumbing, which was founded by chief executive Mark Radcliffe in his garden shed in 2000, supplies everything from tiles to taps. It sells more than 24,000 products from 125 brands, with three-quarters of its revenue coming from its own range.

As a pure-play online retailer , Victorian Plumbing was already taking advantage of the tectonic shift to online shopping before the pandemic . According to Mintel data, online retailers accounted for 29% of bathroom market sales in 2020, compared with 16% in 2015, and they are rapidly closing the gap with more general DIY retailers, who have a market share of around 35%.

In the year to September 30, 2020, Victorian Plumbing's own-brand portfolio had a gross margin of 49%, compared with just 30% for third-party products. In the six months to March 31, its revenue increased by nearly 50% year-on-year to £141m, while operating profit soared 90% to £14.6m.

The company shipped more than 480,000 orders during the period , up more than two-fifths on the same period last year , with the average order value up 4% to £289. Victorian Plumbing is now the second largest bathroom retailer in the UK and the market leader in online retail .

IPO

U.K.

Online Retailers