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(Alliance News) - Bootmaker Dr Martens on Friday set the price for its initial public offer in London, giving the company a market capitalisation of GBP3.7 billion.
Dr Martens set the offer price at 370 pence per share. A total of 350 million shares are being sold by majority shareholder IngreLux Sarl, a Luxembourg company owned by funds advised by Permira, and other existing shareholders. IngreLux bought Dr Martens in 2014. No new shares were issued.
The total offer size was GBP1.30 billion, representing 35% of the company's issued shares. An over-allotment option could raise the number of shares in public hands to 403 million, or 40%. Dr Martens said the offer was eight times over-subscribed.
The bookbuild process was coordinated by Goldman Sachs International and Morgan Stanley & Co International. Barclays Bank PLC, HSBC Bank PLC, Merrill Lynch International and RBC Europe Ltd were joint bookrunners. Lazard & Co Ltd was acting as Dr Martens' financial adviser.
Conditional dealings on the London Main Market start on Friday, with unconditional dealings starting on Wednesday next week. Dr Martens will be eligible for inclusion in FTSE indices.
"We have been delighted by the strong levels of interest, engagement and support from such a high quality selection of institutional investors," said Chief Executive Officer Kenny Wilson. "The successful transformation of Dr Martens is a great story, and what is even more exciting is the huge potential ahead."
Dr Martens recorded earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation of GBP184.5 million in the financial year that ended March 31, 2020 on revenue of GBP672.2 million. Revenue was split 43% from Europe, Middle East and Africa, 37% from the Americas and 20% from Asia-Pacific.
Dr Martens launched its first boot in 1960, the eight-holed 1460 boot. It said it now sells 11 million pair of its boots annually in 60 countries but thinks there is room to expand in what it called a GBP341 billion global footwear market.
Dr Martens began in the 1940s when German born doctor Klaus Martens created a boot from soft leather with an air cushioned sole to help to ease the pain on his feet after a skiing accident.
Here is what you need to know at the London market open:
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MARKETS
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FTSE 100: down 1.7% at 6,418.06
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Hang Seng: down 0.7% at 28,359.75
Nikkei 225: closed down 1.9% at 27,663.39
DJIA: closed up 300.19 points, or 1.0%, at 30,603.36
S&P 500: closed up 36.61 points, or 1.0%, at 3,787.38
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GBP: down at USD1.3699 (USD1.3725)
EUR: down at USD1.2103 (USD1.2125)
Gold: down at USD1,845.52 per ounce (USD1,856.61)
Oil (Brent): down at USD55.42 a barrel (USD55.80)
(changes since previous London equities close)
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ECONOMICS AND GENERAL
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Friday's Key Economic Events still to come
World Economic Forum's Davos Agenda virtual meeting concludes
0955 CET Germany unemployment
1000 CET EU monetary developments in euro area (M3)
0830 EST US personal income & outlays
1000 EST US pending home sales index
1000 EST US University of Michigan survey of consumers
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A fourth Covid-19 vaccine could be approved for use in the UK within weeks as late-stage trials suggested it was 89% effective in preventing coronavirus. The UK has secured 60 million doses of the Novavax jab – to be produced on Teesside – which is believed to offer protection against the new UK and South African variants. It was shown to be 89% effective at preventing coronavirus in participants in its phase 3 clinical trial in the UK, which involved more than 15,000 people aged between 18-84, of which 27% were older than 65, Novavax said. The vaccine will now be assessed by the Medicines & Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency, UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson confirmed, as he thanked volunteers who made the results possible. Health Secretary Matt Hancock said the NHS stands ready to roll out the vaccine if it is approved, which he said would provide a "significant boost to our vaccination programme and another weapon in our arsenal to beat this awful virus".
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The number of new-build homes registered to be constructed across the UK fell by 23% annually in 2020 to reach an eight-year low, according to industry figures. Some 123,151 new homes were registered in 2020, compared with 160,319 in 2019, according to the National House Building Council a warranty and insurance provider. It was the lowest annual total since 104,922 new-builds were registered in 2012. Homes are registered with the National House Building Council, which has a 70% to 80% share of the market, before work is started. This means that the figures are an indication of new housing supply in the pipeline. New registrations plunged by 53% annually in the second quarter of last year, during the initial coronavirus lockdown, as on-site work halted. But, by the fourth quarter of 2020, registrations were down just 2% compared with the same quarter in 2019.
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BROKER RATING CHANGES
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BERENBERG CUTS IBSTOCK TO 'HOLD' ('BUY') - TARGET 230 (210) PENCE
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BERENBERG RAISES HOWDEN JOINERY TO 'BUY' ('HOLD') - TARGET 830 (530) PENCE
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BARCLAYS RAISES DAILY MAIL TO 'EQUAL WEIGHT' ('UNDERWEIGHT') - TARGET 775 (740) PENCE
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COMPANIES - FTSE 100
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Evraz reported steel production growth in the fourth quarter but a full-year slip. In the fourth quarter of 2020, Evraz said crude steel output rose by 7.4% quarter-on-quarter to 3.5 million tonnes and total sales of steel products increased 12% to 3.4 million tonnes. For the full-year, crude steel production was down 1.3% at 13.6 million tonnes and sales of steel products fell 3.1% to 13.1 million tonnes.
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COMPANIES - FTSE 250
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Airtel Africa reported revenue growth across all regions and services in the first nine months of its financial year. Revenue increased 14% to USD2.87 billion in the nine months to December, with third quarter growth of 20%. Operating profit rose 22% in the nine-month period to USD800 million, but pretax profit fell 3.8% to USD482 million amid a 41% increase in finance costs. Constant currency underlying revenue growth was 19%, with third-quarter growth of 23%. Growth for the nine months was recorded across all regions - with Nigeria up 22%, East Africa up 23% and Francophone Africa up 8.0% - as well as across all services, with voice revenue up 10%, data up 31% and mobile money up 34%. "Our nine-month performance reflects both the resilience of our business model through the Covid-19 pandemic and, for the last six months, a continued improvement in our execution and performance as lockdown restrictions have eased across our countries of operation," said Chief Executive Raghunath Mandava. "While the Covid-19 pandemic has had little impact on our most recent quarter, we remain vigilant about the recent news flow around new strains of the virus and further actions by governments to minimise contagion in our countries of operation."
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Respiratory protection equipment manufacturer Avon Rubber said trading has continued as expected since December. The firm said it has seen seen positive order momentum in the Military, First Responder and Team Wendy businesses, and has made progress with updated body armor designs for the US Defense Logistics Agency Enhanced Small Arms Protective Inserts and US Army Vital Torso Protection contracts. Avon Rubber said it remains confident in achieving its expectations for the current financial year. It said Team Wendy has performed in line with expectations in the first three months of ownership.
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Paragon Banking said it made an "encouraging" start to the year. Specialist buy-to-let volumes have remained "robust" during Paragon's first quarter - which ended December 31 - at GBP298.7 million. "Although this represents a GBP110.8 million reduction when compared to Q1 2020, it largely reflects the lagged impacts of the first lockdown on our pipeline and market wide challenges facing the execution of housing transactions," explained Paragon. Total advances during the first quarter stood at GBP521.8 million, down from GBP684.9 million year-on-year, the provider of mortgages and other asset-backed loans said. Looking ahead, Paragon said: "Whilst the full economic effect of Covid-19 remains uncertain, the group's performance during the first quarter has been encouraging and the board's expectations on volumes and net interest margin remain unchanged."
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COMPANIES - MAIN MARKET AND AIM
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boohoo confirmed it is in exclusive talks with Arcadia's administrators to buy the Dorothy Perkins, Wallis and Burton brands. "These discussions may or may not result in agreement of a transaction. A further announcement will be made when appropriate," the online-only retailer said in a statement. Sky News had reported the talks on Thursday. The news comes just days after boohoo announced it had acquired all of the intellectual property assets of department store Debenhams Retail for GBP55 million in cash in order to expand into new categories including beauty, sport and homeware. The Debenhams deal did not include any retail stores. Boohoo has previously bought a number of well-known high street brands out of administration, turning them into online-only operations, including Oasis, Coast and Karen Millen.
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Automobile retailer and aftersales service provider Lookers swung to a GBP50.0 million loss in the first half of 2020 from a restated GBP19.6 million profit a year before. Revenue fell by 40% to GBP1.56 billion from GBP2.61 billion. Lookers skipped paying an interim dividend, compared to 1.48 pence per share a year before. Lookers said cost control mitigated the impact of Covid-19, which forced the closure of its sites for long periods. It said its restructuring has resulted in about 1,500 job cuts and the permanent closure of 12 sites, after 15 were closed a year before. Amid the continued shuttering of showrooms in England's third national lockdown, Lookers is offering its 'Click & Drive' service.
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COMPANIES - GLOBAL
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General Motors on Thursday announced that it aims to make most of its cars and trucks emissions-free by 2035, as part of a wider campaign by the American auto giant to go carbon-neutral. The move is the latest by a major auto producer to shift away from gas-guzzling vehicles in favour of non-polluting alternatives over concerns that their industry is contributing to climate change. "We encourage others to follow suit and make a significant impact on our industry and on the economy as a whole," Chief Executive Officer Mary Barra said in a statement announcing the move. The goal to cut emissions by 2035 only applies to light duty vehicles, but GM said it also wants to become carbon-neutral by 2040, which Barra said means removing emissions from all products and operations.
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Carmaker Daimler on Thursday said its 2020 performance topped both internal and market forecasts as the Mercedes-Benz owner hailed its "cash preservation measures and strong operative performances". For 2020, Daimler expects to report adjusted earnings before interest and tax of EUR8.64 billion, beating consensus forecasts of EUR7.12 billion, but down 16% from EUR10.29 billion in 2019. In 2019, Daimler's reported earnings before interest and taxes were EUR4.3 billion down 61% from the year before amid additional costs for governmental and court proceedings and measures relating to the Mercedes-Benz diesel test cheating scandal. Daimler expects industrial free cash flow of EUR8.23 billion, ahead of the EUR5.30 billion consensus forecasts and soaring above the EUR1.37 billion from 2019.
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Friday's Shareholder Meetings
Asiamet Resources Ltd - GM re Indokal disposal
Aura Energy Ltd - AGM
Avingtrans PLC - GM re shareholder approval for merger of units with Magnetica
Avon Rubber PLC - AGM
Caledonian Trust PLC - AGM
Dalata Hotel Group PLC - EGM re replacement of CREST with Euroclear Bank
Hollywood Bowl Group PLC - AGM
Live Co Group PLC - AGM
Nostra Terra Oil & Gas Co PLC - GM seeking approval to issue new shares
Scotgold Resources Ltd - AGM
Treatt PLC - AGM
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By Tom Waite; thomaslwaite@alliancenews.com
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