Douglas, IPO in Frankfurt to lift 1.1 billion euros | EUROtoday

«We are very happy with the event of the Douglas Group lately: the group has efficiently remodeled itself into the primary omnichannel premium magnificence vacation spot in Europe. Our household considers itself to be passionate and dedicated shareholders and appears ahead to persevering with to accompany the group on its journey sooner or later” comments Henning Kreke, chairman of the supervisory board.

Citigroup and Goldman Sachs are acting as joint process banks in the operation, while Deutsche Bank, UBS and UniCredit will be joint global coordinators and joint bookrunners. BNP Paribas, CVC Capital Markets and Jefferies will act as joint bookrunners, while Intesa, LBBW and RBI will be co-managers.

The numbers of the group

Headquartered in Düsseldorf, Germany, the group is now focused on the European market with a chain of stores in 22 countries that counts approximately 18,000 employees and at the same time has a leading position in online sales. In Italy the brand is present with 370 stores and around 2,200 employees, a turnover of almost 400 million euros, more than 400 brands and over 55 thousand products in physical and online sales channels. At a global commercial level, Douglas can count on an offer of over 250 exclusive brands and operates a loyalty program with approximately 57 million members as of 31 December 2023, which generates “distinctive knowledge insights, promotes development and permits environment friendly activation of shoppers”. The positioning in the premium European beauty market, which is expected to grow at an average of 5.4% per year until reaching 24.2 billion in 2028, allows Douglas to continue to grow: in the October-December 2023 quarter the net turnover was increased by 8% to 1.56 billion euros thanks to growth in in-store (+6.7%) and online sales (+10.7%). The last financial year ending in September 2023 closed for the German group with a net turnover of 4.1 billion euros with a year-on-year increase of 11.3%.

The evolution of profitability was also positive with an adj. Ebitda of €348.3 million in the first quarter of 2023/24, improving by 12.6%, while the Ebitda margin was 22.4%, another step forward compared to 21.5% in the first quarter of the year previous. Net profit in the first quarter of 2023/24 increased by 10.6% to €125.2 million and free cash flow rose to €459.4 million.

In the medium time period, Douglas has the ambition to extend group gross sales by an annual common of round 7% and in addition goals to attain an adj. Ebitda margin of roughly 18.5%, with typical year-on-year fluctuations.