The café-bar operator behind the Lounge and Cosy Club brands has confirmed plans to float on London’s junior market later this month.
Loungers PLC was founded by three friends in Bristol back in 2002 and has since grown its estate to almost 150 sites up and down the UK.
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The company first revealed its intention to join AIM on Monday, and it has today submitted its schedule one pre-admission document.
According to the filing, Loungers will trade under the ticker symbol ‘LGRS’ when it joins the exchange, expected to be in “late April”.
Details such as the listing price and the amount of money it is looking to raise were not included.
CEO 'delighted'
Bosses said the admission to AIM would “position the group strongly for the next stage of its development”, raising its profile and allowing it to offer share-based incentives to staff.
It will also allow existing shareholders, including private equity firm Lion Capital which owns 63.8% of the shares, to cash in and realise part of their investment.
“I am delighted to announce our intention to list on AIM,” said chief executive Nick Collins earlier this week.
“It has long been the ambition of the founders and myself that Loungers becomes a listed entity. The listing will allow us to broaden the employee shareholder base and provide us with an appropriate capital structure to pursue our future growth ambitions.”
While most of its peers have been closing sites in recent years amid stiff competition and soaring costs, Loungers has been opening new restaurants and bars.
The company has opened 20+ in each of the past three years, and it is on track to add another 25 by the end of its current year which runs to the end of April.
Record Christmas
Bosses reckon there is the potential for more than 400 Lounges and more than 100 Cosy Clubs in the UK as they look to take advantage of a growing appetite for its burgers and brunches.
Like-for-like sales climbed 6.4% in the half-year to 7 October, and Loungers followed that up with a record Christmas, during which like-for-likes surged 11.0%.
Last year, the group turned an underlying profit of £16.6mln on revenue of £121.1mln.
It has been tipped to generate underlying earnings in excess of £20mln in the current financial year, which analysts reckon would value it at upwards of £250mln.