Dynamite on the stock market Thursday morning

The jump on the stock market materializes this Thursday morning for the Montreal women’s clothing retailer Groupe Dynamite.

Shares of the operator of the Garage and Dynamite brands will begin trading on the Toronto Stock Exchange when markets open under the symbol GRGD.

The initial share price was set at $21, in the middle of the expected range of $19 to $23 previously determined by the bankers responsible for the company’s initial public offering. business.

This price gives Dynamite Group a value of $2.3 billion and gives an approximate value of $2 billion to the stock stake of the company’s CEO and principal owner, Andrew Lutfy.

Dynamite Group’s initial public offering is made to allow Andrew Lutfy to sell 14.3 million shares, a $300 million transaction.

Andrew Lutfy also granted his bankers – led by Goldman Sachs – an option to sell an additional 2.1 million shares, depending on investor appetite.

An expeditious process

The Dynamite Group’s listing process was completed smoothly.

After a series of presentations and meetings held between management and potential shareholders over the past 10 days, Dynamite’s bankers closed the books on Tuesday after receiving purchase orders making the deal “several times oversubscribed.” says a banker on file who is not authorized to discuss details publicly.

“Strong” participation from both Canadian and American investors was noted by this person familiar with the situation.

Andrew Lutfy is a Montreal businessman best known for his real estate project management and development company Carbonleo, developer of the Royalmount shopping center in Montreal.

Groupe Dynamite has 299 stores (185 in Canada and 114 in the United States) and a workforce of 6,000 employees, 70% of whom are part-time.

All stores are directly owned by the company – there are no franchisees – and management intends to continue development in the United States and even in other countries, starting with the United Kingdom.

The billion in the viewfinder

The billion in annual turnover is within reach of the company.

Revenue grew from $628 million for fiscal 2021 to $888 million for the 12 months ended in early August, representing a compound annual growth rate of 15%.

During the presentation tour to investors as a prelude to the listing, management announced that revenues for the months of August, September and October amounted to approximately 257 million, representing year-on-year growth of more than 15 %.

Net profits rose from 109 million for fiscal 2021 to 128 million for the 12 months ended in early August, the equivalent of a compound annual growth rate of 6.5%.

The first Garage store opened its doors in 1975 at Place Versailles, in Montreal. At the time, it was a 400-square-foot boutique specializing in denim pants commonly known as “jeans.”

The Dynamite Group has two classes of shares, one with subordinate voting rights and the other with multiple voting rights (10 votes for one share) under the control of Andrew Lutfy.

This initial public offering is the first in Quebec since Coveo’s IPO three years ago.