German cosmetics retailer Douglas has said it will pursue a €1.1 billion initial public offering (IPO) on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange, with the listing to be completed in the first quarter of 2024, subject to capital market conditions.
The IPO includes an additional equity injection of around €300 million from the current shareholders, the company said.
Its proceeds will be used to reduce debt, while remaining loans will be refinanced at better conditions, it said.
'Ideally Positioned'
'The Douglas Group is ideally positioned to further capitalise on the large and resilient European premium beauty market," CEO Sander van der Laan said in a statement, calling an IPO the "logical next step" in the company's growth strategy.
The business, backed by CVC Capital Partners, will be the second listing in Germany this year if it goes ahead, following tank part manufacturer Renk's IPO at the start of February.
Alongside Douglas, there are least four other major IPOs pencilled in for the first half of the year, sources have told Reuters.
The prospective share sales come after a quiet two years for initial public offerings, as soaring debt costs and geopolitical uncertainty dampened sentiment towards new stock listings.
Sales Performance
In February, Douglas announced that group sales in its first quarter rose by 8.0% (on a reported basis) to approximately €1.56 billion, with like-for-like sales up 7.5%, driven by ongoing omnichannel growth – store sales increased by 6.7%, while e-commerce went up by 10.7%.
Profitability also saw a notable improvement in the first quarter, the German firm said – adjusted EBITDA climbed by 12.6% to 348.3 million euros, resulting in a higher adj. EBITDA margin of 22.4%.
Additional reporting by ESM
