The Universal Store Holdings Limited (ASX: UNI) share price finally hit the ASX boards on Tuesday after missing out due to the outage on Monday.
And what a start the retailer's shares have had! At one stage today, the Universal Store share price was up as much as 22% from its IPO price of $3.80 to $4.63.
In afternoon trade its shares are currently changing hands for $4.58.
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The Universal Store IPO.
Universal Store has landed on the Australian share market today after completing its initial public offering (IPO) which raised $147.8 million at $3.80 per share. This gave the fashion retailer a market capitalisation of $278.1 million.
The proceeds from the offer are to be used to repay the company's existing corporate debt facilities, increase cash held, pay transaction costs associated with the offer, and pay selling shareholders.
Trading update.
Ahead of its listing on the ASX boards, Universal Store released a trading update which revealed that it has started FY 2021 strongly.
According to the release, based on unaudited accounts, Universal Store met the proforma first quarter FY 2021 forecast provided in its prospectus. This includes for revenue, earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA), and net profit after tax.
Furthermore, it revealed that its sales momentum has continued for the last seven weeks (Monday 28 September to Sunday 15 November, inclusive).
During this period, the company achieved group comparable sales growth of 33% versus the prior corresponding period.
Another positive was its update on its Victorian operations. Management advised that on Wednesday 28 October, Universal Store re-opened its 12 previously closed Melbourne stores.
Pleasingly, in the first two full weeks of trading to 15 November, the Victorian stores delivered comparable sales growth of 23% relative to the prior corresponding period.
Universal Store's CEO, Alice Barbery, said; "We are delighted to have all our Victorian stores open and trading again in the lead up to school holidays and the Christmas season. We are also encouraged by the prospects for our stores and online sales in Melbourne as restrictions are further eased over coming weeks."
