Naked Wines is understood to be considering a listing on New York’s Nasdaq stock exchange following last week’s sale of its Majestic business.
Naked Wines chief executive Rowan Gormley told investors that a listing on Nasdaq is planned after completion of the sale of Majestic Wine to US investor Fortress, The Sunday Times reported.
A US listing would reflect the changing shape of Naked Wines’ business.
“In three or four years this is going to be an American business with a UK and Australian offshoot,” a source close to the situation told the newspaper.
Naked Wines will retain its UK listing, the source said. The retailer had a market capitalisation of £196m at the end of last week, during which it sold 180-store Majestic for £95m.
One City source said that as Naked has grown in the US it has attracted increasing investor interest there. The source said Gormley is “repositioning it [Naked Wines] because US shareholders understand the business better”.
Investors in the States were said to be more supportive of Gormely’s plans for Naked Wines, in contrast to some in the UK who were surprised by the decision to offload Majestic.
Proceeds from the sale of Majestic will be used to invest in Naked – a subscription specialist with about 200,000 customers founded by Gormley in 2009 – to cut debt and to pay a special dividend to investors.
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