Endless to exit The Works in £100m London listing

Greg Gille
16 July 2018

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The Works, a discount retailer backed by turnaround firm Endless since 2008, is set to list in a ТЃ100m IPO on the London Stock Exchange.

The Works will raise £65.2m as part of the IPO, which will give the business a market cap of £100m. The Works' shares will be priced at 160 pence apiece, with dealings set to begin on 19 July.

Approximately £36.7m will go to selling shareholders, and the company will use the remainder of the proceeds to repay debt.

Endless backed The Works in 2008, buying it out of administration for a reported £17m. The company received further investment in 2017 when it moved to a new support and distribution centre. Endless stated it had seen "one of the most remarkable business transformations" it has been involved with following the 2008 investment. The Works developed new products and ranges, and opened 134 new locations across the UK in the past three years.

Previous funding
Hermes Private Equity acquired The Works in a secondary buyout from Primary Capital worth £50m in 2005. Hermes took a majority stake in the company and the management retained the balance. HSBC provided leverage to support the transaction.

The business entered receivership in 2008, before being acquired by Endless.

Company
Established in 1981, The Works is a multi-channel discount retailer of gifts, arts, crafts, toys, books and stationery. It has a nationwide network of 447 branded stores and concessions, as well as an e-commerce platform.

In the year ending in April 2017, The Works generated revenues of £166.4m, with EBITDA of around £10m.

People
Endless – James Woolley (partner).