Appliances Online gears up for stock market float

By Suzanne Bearne8 July 2013

Online specialist Appliances Online is considering an IPO and is scheduled to hold talks with advisors over the coming weeks.

The Bolton-based white goods retailer is pondering a float valuing it at more than £300m and is keen to list as early as Autumn, according to The Sunday Times.

Founder John Roberts is likely to be in line for a £60m pay-out if the deal goes ahead.

Roberts set up DRL Holdings, owner of Appliances Online and Appliance Deals, in 2000. DRL racked up sales of £275m in the year to March 31, 2012, up from £151.5m the year before.

Appliances Online is the bulk of the DRL business, accounting for around three quarters of sales. The remainder comes from white label services it provides for retailers such as Next, Argos and Boots.

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Matt Henderson (Rangespan) Commented on: 8 July 2013 14:50
Great business, and at £300m it is probably undervalued - seems like their bankers are low balling it. If they grew 83% YoY in 2012 (from 151m to 275m) they must be having another stonking year after Comet's fall. A £300m valuation would probably only be 0.7-0.8 times the annual sales runrate at time of IPO, and even for a category with low long term operating margin prospects (perhaps 2%) that feels like a bargain. Put another way, it would be about the same price/earnings multiple as ASOS, but growing at twice the speed.
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