MySale aims to raise £40m when it floats on the Aim market of the UK’s stock exchange in June in a deal that will, say its directors, take public the “first global online flash retailer of scale”.
The flash sales specialist, which has operated and grown in the Australian and South East Asian markets over the last seven years, is now expanding to the UK and US and aims to use the money to invest in warehousing, marketing and growth into new markets as well as strategic acquisitions.
MySale was founded as ozsale.com.au in 2007, a members-only shopping club that imported European and American fashion brands into the Australian market. A counter-season cyclical approach enabled it to sell surplus or end-of-season stock from the northern hemisphere into the southern hemisphere.
MySale is now moving westwards, with a US site launched this month and a UK site set to follow in the second half of the year. Going global, it says, will help it to continue to profit from counter-seasonal trends. It also aims to continue growth through expanding its membership, expanding into further new countries, boosting its members’ repeat purchases and sales, while broadening its supplier base and investing in mobile. A strategy of acquisitions and joint ventures will also continue: it has recently bought flash sales site Cocosa in the UK and won investment from Shelton Capital, owned by Lady Cristina Green, wife of Arcadia Group entrepreneur Sir Philip Green.
In the year to June 30 2013, MySale turned over A$183.6m (£102.1m), 63.7% up on the same period in the previous year, while adjusted earnings came in at A$8.9m (£4.9m), up 140% from A$3.7m (£2.1m) the previous year. In the six months to December 2013, revenues grew to 25% A$114.6m (£63.7m) from A$91.6m (£50.9m) a year before.
Carl Jackson, chief executive, said: “MySale comes to the market as the first global international flash sale retailer of scale. Having built a growing and profitable business from our established sites in Australia, New Zealand and South-East Asia, we have now established an office in the UK to take advantage of the significant opportunities available to us in the US and UK markets.
“This is an exciting time for MySale as we continue to invest in the technology platform, supplier relationships and logistics that make MySale such a compelling proposition to our members.”
