McColl's valued at £200m on stock market debut

McColls revealed an offer price of 191p per share.

The offer of 69.5 million shares is expected to raise £132.8m, made up of a “primary component” of £49.7m and secondary sales of £83.1m.

The secondary sales will comprise a partial sell-down by executive directors of McColls, various other employees, investor Cavendish Square Partners and a full sell-down by the trustee of the employee incentive trust. McColls most senior 25 staff have shares in the company.

Conditional dealings started at 8am today and unconditional trading will begin this Friday, February 28.

McColl’s executive chairman and chief executive James Lancaster said: “We are delighted with the strong interest that we have seen from investors in McColl’s. The success of this initial public offering is a clear endorsement of the quality of the business and its clear prospects for future growth and profitability. It will enable us to accelerate our growth strategy, further enhancing our position in a rapidly growing convenience market.  

“We are pleased to welcome our new shareholders and look forward to our next phase of development as a listed company.”

Numis acted as sponsor, bookrunner and financial adviser on the listing. Livingstone Partners acted as financial adviser to McColls.

Lancaster told Retail Week that the IPO process had been “very, very hard work”. He said: “We have got the message over to our management that investors are not buying what we have done but what we are doing in the future.

Lancaster added that McColl’s decision to IPO was not influenced by any other retailer’s decision to float. “I do not know who else coming down the track the line for certain but some people have said ‘are you jumping on the the bandwagon but that’s not fair as I have the reigns of the bandwagon in my hands,” he said.