Hotter Shoes plans IPO in Q4 as sales rise

Comfort shoes specialist Hotter will be listed on the stock market later this year with the company’s owners having announced their intention to float it on the Alternative Investment Market (AIM), which is also home to big-name fashion businesses such as ASOS and Boohoo.

Owner Electra Private Equity is embracing share listings this year with its restaurant chain TGI Fridays also set to list. Hotter’s big move should happen by Q4 with the company saying its plans are “ well advanced”.

Hotter has seen a big shake-up in recent periods and restructured itself last year, closing the majority of its stores (59 of them) and cutting jobs as it pivoted to an online-first business model. It continues to see growth opportunities online in both the UK and US with its now-much-smaller UK store chain supporting this.

Electra said it continues to perform strongly following the restructure that also saw it focusing on its ‘freesole’, ‘cushion +’ and ‘stability +’ product ranges.

UK online sales saw 30% like-for-like growth in the seven months to the end of April. And in that period, UK and US comparable e-sales accounted for 68% of its total, compared to 54% a year earlier. That's a good result given that lockdowns have meant the footwear category has struggled in the past year.

EBITDA for the seven months rose 8% on a comparable basis, suggesting the full-year comparable EBITDA figure will be £5.4 million.

Electra Private Equity is in a major period of change and earlier sold its Sentinel Performance Solutions business, as well as developing the listing plans for TGI Fridays and Hotter.

Electra chairman, Neil Johnson, said: “With the recent sale of Sentinel, we enter the final stage of our strategy with confidence, having returned over £2 billion to shareholders since October 2016. The new management teams at our two remaining larger portfolio assets have performed admirably through the pandemic, not just sustaining their businesses in the most difficult circumstances, but also transforming them. In light of this, and their potential for further significant longer term value creation, the board has decided that the optimal outcome for shareholders is likely to lie in a capital market solution for both businesses.

Hotter Shoes plans IPO in Q4 as sales rise

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