Based in Merseyside, bathroom retailer Victorian Plumbing floated on the London Stock Exchange’s Alternative Investment Market in June with a market capitalisation of £850m. Tony McDonough reports
Merseyside-based national bathroom retailer Victorian Plumbing is reporting a surge in annual sales to around £267m.
Although the Formby business didn’t give an actual figure, it reported sales for the year to September 30, 2020, of £207m and says its latest figure is a 29% improvement on that. It said trading remained strong for much of the 12-month period.
In June this year the business, which employs more than 400 people, floated on the London Stock Exchange’s Alternative Investment Market (AIM). It raised gross proceeds of £11.6m giving it a market capitalisation on admission of £850m. It was the largest-ever float by a company on AIM.
Victorian Plumbing began trading on the day of the float at 262p and chief executive Mark Radcliffe, who founded the business in 2000, sold a portion of his own holding for £212m. However, since then its share price has fallen. On early trading on Thursday morning it dropped 4.38% to 229.5p.
In its latest trading update, the company said: “The Board is pleased to report that the financial year finished positively with revenue growth of c 29% for FY21. This reflects strong trading in the first three quarters of the year, more subdued market conditions as lockdown restrictions were eased, before customer demand improved in September.
“While revenue growth moderated over the summer, gross margins remained strong throughout and adjusted EBITDA for FY21 is anticipated to be ahead of market expectations.
“Given the widely publicised global supply chain issues that have been affecting many companies, the group has been proactive in optimising its stock holding going into the new financial year.
“The group continues to progress all of the operational and strategic opportunities outlined at the time of the IPO. Management will provide a further update in the Group’s maiden preliminary results, which will be announced on December 9, 2021.