Admission to AIM & First Day of Dealings

RNS Number : 4869Q

Warpaint London PLC

30 November 2016

 

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30 November 2016

Warpaint London plc

("Warpaint London" or the "Company")

Admission to Trading on AIM and First Day of Dealings

Warpaint London plc (AIM: W7L), a specialist supplier of colour cosmetics and owner of the W7 brand, is pleased to announce the admission today of its ordinary shares to trading on the AIM Market of the London Stock Exchange ("Admission"). Dealings in the ordinary shares will commence at 8.00am under the ticker "W7L" with the ISIN GB00BYMF3676.

Stockdale Securities Limited is acting as Nominated Adviser and Broker to the Company.

·     Oversubscribed placing by Stockdale Securities Limited raising gross proceeds of £23 million

·     23,711,340 new and existing ordinary shares placed with institutional and other investors, including Board Directors (the "Placing"), at a placing price of 97 pence per ordinary share (the "Placing Price")

·     The number of ordinary shares in issue immediately after Admission will be 64,538,600, giving Warpaint London a market capitalisation of approximately £62.6 million at the Placing Price

The Directors believe that the Admission to AIM will raise the Company's profile, enhance W7's brand awareness and provide investment to accelerate the growth of the business, as described in the Admission Document.

The Admission Document and details of significant shareholdings can be found at: www.warpaintlondonplc.com 

Sammy Bazini and Eoin Macleod, Joint CEOs of Warpaint London, commented: "Today marks a key milestone in the Company's 24-year history. The public company status will greatly support our expansion as we continue to broaden W7's customer base internationally, introduce additional brands and product lines and generate further profitable growth.

"The support from investors who recognise the exciting opportunities of the growing and global cosmetics market has been very encouraging. We are very much looking forward to our life as a public company and are excited to update our investors on the continued progress of the business in the months and years to come."

Company Overview

·     Warpaint London is a well-established business originally founded in 1992, that sells colour cosmetics in the UK and internationally, principally under the W7 brand

·     The flagship W7 brand has seen consistent growth and has more than 230 customers in over 40 countries

o  W7 was the prefix of the Company's postcode in West London at the time of the brands' inception in 2002

o  W7 is an extremely creative, design-focussed cosmetic brand delivering high-quality colour cosmetics at affordable prices, targeting the 16-30 age range.

o  The own-brand division has four other brands which have, to date, been relatively undeveloped

·     Strategy for growth is focused on the own-brand proposition

·     The Company has a proven track record of sales growth, profitability and strong cash generation

o  Revenue increased in FY2015 to £22.3 million (FY2014: £17 million) and EBITDA increased to £5.5 million (FY2015: £4.2 million), driven primarily by growth in awareness of the W7 brand

o  Strong current trading, with H1 2016 revenue increasing to £12.7 million (H1 2015: £10.8 million), and H1 2016 EBITDA increasing to £3.3 million (H1 2015: £2.6 million)

o  Robust balance sheet with £11.4 million of net assets as at 30 June 2016 and highly cash generative

·     Intention to adopt a progressive dividend policy

·     The cosmetics market is believed by the directors of the Company to be an attractive growth market which is made up of two categories; prestige and mass

o  The accessible price points of the mass market see consumers buying from these brands more frequently

o  The US is the largest colour cosmetics market globally with a retail value in 2015 of approximately $11 billion. The UK colour cosmetics market is estimated to grow from £1.8 billion in 2016 to c.£2.4 billion in 2021

·     The management team has over 70 years' combined experience in the cosmetics industry and the Company has a highly experienced board

Enquiries:

Warpaint London plc            Sammy Bazini - Joint Chief Executive           Eoin Macleod - Joint Chief Executive Neil Rodol - Chief Financial Officer	020 3053 8671
Stockdale Securities Limited (Nominated Adviser and Broker) Andy Crossley, Antonio Bossi, Ed Thomas - Corporate Finance Fiona Conroy - Corporate Broking	020 7601 6100
IFC Advisory (Financial PR & IR) Tim Metcalfe Graham Herring Heather Armstrong Miles Nolan	020 3053 8671

About Warpaint London plc

Warpaint London is a colour cosmetics business, based in Iver, Buckinghamshire. It is made up of two divisions: close-out and own-brand.  The second and larger own-brand division consists primarily of the Group's flagship brand, W7 - an extremely creative, design-focussed cosmetic brand proposition with a focus on the 16-30 age range, delivering high-quality cosmetics at affordable prices. W7 brand has grown organically since its inception in 2002 and now contains over 500 items which are sold into high street retailers and independent beauty shops across the UK, Europe, Australia and the US. In 2015, W7 was supplied to over 230 customers in more than 40 countries.

 

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