The Douglas perfumery chain got off to a false start on its return to the stock market. After a weak stock market debut, the share is coming under increasing pressure and is now trading well below its issue price.
A brilliant return to the stock market looks different: The shares of the perfumery chain Douglas started trading on the Xetra platform in the morning at 25.50 euros – and therefore below the issue price. At 26 euros, this was already at the lower end of the emission range of up to 30 euros.
Shortly after trading began on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange, the share slipped further to 23.42 euros. This was almost ten percent below the issue price of 26 euros. By the afternoon, the shares had fallen by more than twelve percent to 22.80 euros.
Proceeds for debt reduction
Douglas will receive a gross amount of 850 million euros from the IPO, which will be used to reduce debt. The perfumery chain accumulated more than three billion euros in debt during the pandemic, and the company was also converted to have a more online presence.
And the changes in the company are far from complete: more than 200 new locations are to be opened by the end of the 2025/2026 financial year, almost half of them in Central Eastern Europe. There are also plans to renovate and modernize 400 existing branches.
More than 18,000 employees across Europe
“Douglas is in full bloom,” said Deutsche Börse board member Thomas Book. The IPO is the beginning of a new growth story. Almost 32 percent of the company was listed on the stock exchange. The old owners, the financial investor CVC and the Kreke family, will remain the main shareholders even after the IPO. CVC indirectly holds more than half of the share capital.
The former Douglas Holding was already listed on the stock exchange until 2013 and was even a member of the MDAX of small caps. However, the company, which was less focused at the time as a book and chocolate retailer, was taken off the stock exchange after it was taken over by the financial investor Advent and the Kreke family in order to strategically reposition it. In 2015 CVC took over the majority. Douglas today has 1,850 branches in 22 countries across Europe and employs around 18,000 people.
Heidi Radvilas, HR, tagesschau, March 21, 2024 12:42 p.m