Furniture e-seller Koala successfully floats on the ASX
A leading bed and sofa e-commerce retailer has made a successful debut on the Australian Securities Exchange.
Shares of The Koala Company were changing hands at $3.70 Tuesday afternoon; This was up 8.8 percent from the $3.40 price during the IPO, which raised $68.1 million.
“Today is a proud day for Koala as we begin our journey as a publicly traded company,” Dany Milham, the company’s co-founder and CEO, said in a statement.
“This reflects the hard work and passion of our incredible team over the past decade and the support of our customers, partners and shareholders who have believed in our vision from the beginning.”
The company was founded by childhood friends Mr Milham and Mitch Taylor in Byron Bay in 2015 with a single bedding product that they sold direct to consumers through brash and irreverent social media ads.
Koala now sells a range of sofas, sofa beds, outdoor furniture, box springs, bedside tables and mattresses in Australia, Japan, the United States and the United Kingdom.
“While listing our business is incredibly exciting, when Mitch and I founded Koala over a decade ago, we did not do so with this goal in mind,” Mr. Milham said.
“We set out to build a better furniture company focused on design, sustainability and providing long-term value to the customer. That goal has not changed.”
Koala said many of its competitors primarily sell “white label” products, but all of its furniture is designed in-house by a team of 31 people.
At a share price of $3.70, Koala has a market cap of $332 million.
The company estimates it will generate revenue of $332 million in 2025/26, an increase of 20 percent compared to the previous year.
It predicts earnings will more than double to $24.8 million.
“Our priorities are strengthening our core categories, expanding internationally and delivering disciplined and sustainable long-term returns,” Mr. Milham said.
Mr. Milham retained a 20.7 percent stake in the company and Mr. Taylor retained a 16.3 percent stake, worth about $66 million and $54 million, respectively.
Sydney-based boutique fund Perennial Partners, which invested in Koala in 2020, owns a 22.7 percent stake.
Chairman Michael Gordon said that given the global uncertainty, it was not lost on the team that not many companies around the world were currently listed and they were grateful for the support shown by new and existing investors.
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