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Discount retailer The Works has unveiled plans to float on the London Stock Exchange and open 50 new stores each year, as it defies falling high street footfall.
The Works is planning a £100m listing on the stock market which will give management and shareholders a £36.7m payout. Along with the stock market listing, the company plans to open an additional 50 stores per year as CEO Kevin Keaney said the market was “crying out for a really family-friendly retailer”.
He said: “Undoubtedly there are tough times but really well-run discount retailers like B&M, Primark, Home Bargains and ourselves are doing really well, our whole strategy is to take money away from full-price specialists like WH Smith with disruptive pricing.”
Dean Hoyle, chairman at The Works is set to make £1m through the sale of shares, while he retains his 14% stake in the company, worth a further £14m once the company joins the stock market. Private equity firm, Endless is also selling its shares, worth £30m whilst it retains a 10% equity stake.
Last Friday, The Works set its share price at 160p equating to a market capitalisation of £100m on 19 July when the company officially joins the stock market. After being brought out of administration in 2008, the company has seen both profits and sales soar, rising by 14% over the past three years.
Keaney added: “We are absolutely different. We have been bucking the market for some time not just in our performance but in the way we are doing things.”
The company estimates that more than 90% of its sales are made though its bricks and mortar stores.
