Kogan announces $50 million IPO

Kogan.com is set to list on the Australian Securities Exchange on June 30 with a market capitalisation of $168 million after pricing a $1.80 per share initial public offering.

Ruslan Kogan

The IPO will see the online retailer work to raise $50 million by issuing 28.4 million shares.

The cash generated will be spent on an expansion of higher margin product categories like its private label brands, and new verticals like Kogan Mobile and Kogan Travel.

The newly issued shares will be offered to institutional investors, brokerage firms and nominated investors in an offer underwritten by Canaccord Genuity, plus eligible Kogan employees.

The initial offer will not be open to the general public.

Founder and chief executive officer Ruslan Kogan will continue to hold a 50.5 percent stake in the company following the IPO, while CFO/COO David Shafer will retain an additional 19.1 percent.

"Kogan.com has enjoyed strong growth for the past ten years and – up until this point – has never had any external equity funding," Kogan said in a statement.

"We want to ensure that everyone who invests in Kogan.com and becomes a part of our story, believes in our mission, learns about what makes us tick, and understands why we have had 52 million visits to Kogan.com’s core website channels in the past 12 months.”

The retailer recently picked up the online business of collapsed competitor Dick Smith, which it estimates will add about $95 million a year to its sales tally.

According to the company’s prospectus, the new shares will be issued at 48.3 times EBITDA for financial year 2016 and 20.2 times EBITDA for financial year 2017.

The online retailer reported revenue of $200.3 million for FY 2015, which generated an EBITDA of $1.6 million. The figures exclude Dick Smith sales.

It reported a net loss after tax of $100,000 in FY2015, which is forecast to balloon to $2.9 million in FY2016, ahead of a profit in FY2017 of $2.5 million.

Its 2016 financial year forecast is for $201.1 million in revenue and EBITDA of $2.9 million. This is predicted to increase in FY2017 to $241.2 million in revenue and EBITDA of $6.9 million.

The company claims it has been EBITDA-positive for 10 years, with 621,300 unique customers, 2.3 million email subscribers and 52 million website visits per annum.

Ahead of the listing, Kogan made some additions to its board, with Greg Ridder appointed as non-executive chairman and Harry Debney as a non-executive director.