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City left stunned as AO.com soars on stock market debut

The City was left stunned today as shares in online white goods business AO.com soared over 40 per cent on its market debut, valuing the company as bigger than Argos-owner Home Retail and the same size as Dixons.

One analyst suggested the £1.2 billion valuation echoed the dot-com bubble, which saw overvalued technology companies spectacularly collapse after rapid rises in the early 2000s, while others questioned the company’s business model.

With the offer price of 285p already towards the top-end of expectations, shares initially soared above 410p, before easing back to 399p.

AO.com founder John Roberts took home £86 million pounds today from selling part of his stake in the business he started 14 years from a pub in Bolton, and the soaring share price leaves him with a paper fortune of £480 million from his remaining 28.6 per cent stake.

Finance director Steve Caunce holds a 13.6 per cent stake worth around £240 million.

“I don’t get it,” Freddie George, retail analyst at Cantor Fitzgerald, told the London Evening Standard. “The last time I saw something like this was in the internet boom in the 2000s. This is very much like that.”

“The stock market does have these sort of phases, with the technology companies going to unbelievable highs. I image US institutions are into this in a big way but with £370 million of [full-year] sales forecast... a £1.2 billion valuation doesn’t make sense.”

Kate Calvert, retail analyst at Investec, was also unconvinced by the valuation. “To me it is difficult to understand the valuation,” she said, adding: “By most conventional measures it is a very full valuation.”

Roberts (pictured) said he was “delighted that our initial public offering has been so well received by investors. They have understood our business model and our potential.”

AO.com has ambitions to grow overseas and wants to be the biggest online electricals goods retailer in Europe.

Dixons has already attempted to hit back against suggestions it is losing out to AO.com, telling analysts and investors last week that it is 3 per cent cheaper than online competitors, has a cheaper supply cost on deliveries, and pointed out that it does not reward customers who leave favourable reviews with vouchers, unlike AO.com.

AO.com is one of the first of a rush of retailers to join the stock market, with Poundland, Pets at Home, DFS, House of Fraser and boohoo.com all set to follow.

I don't remember seeing anything about buying/pricing ahead of the float, so I presume this was open to institutional investors only?

I'm not sure Harry - its all over the news sites today, but it took me half an hour to track down the ticker!

On edit - reading post 2 above - maybe a short is in order!

Some of London's leading hedge funds are betting that AO World's share price will slide amid speculation that the online appliances retailer makes more money from selling warranties than it does from shifting white goods. While AO World refuses to split out the profits it makes from selling washing machines and kettles compared with insurance policies, speculation has been rife in the stock market that warranties accounted for as much as 90% of its earnings. - The Times

JP Morgan Cazenove Overweight 311.00 - 400.00 Initiates/Starts

Jefferies International Buy 311.00 - 410.00 Initiates/Starts

Wishful thinking..

Jefferies International Buy 253.38 261.25 410.00 410.00 Reiterates

Numis Buy 253.38 261.25 350.00 350.00 Reiterates

strong blue today

MARKET REPORT: Amazon eyeing online white goods retailer AO World, which sells everything from washing machines to vacuum cleaners By Geoff Foster for the Daily Mail Published: 01:03, 29 October 2014 | Updated: 01:03, 29 October 2014 View comments Online white goods retailer AO World, which sells everything from washing machines and fridges to ovens and vacuum cleaners, could be up for grabs. Down over 40 per cent from February’s ‘punchy’ flotation price of 285p, which valued the company at £1.2bn, its shares traded a penny easier at 163.3p despite vague gossip that US online giant Amazon is looking to buy it with some loose change. AO World has been able to have a significant impact on the UK’s electricals market in recent years as it stepped into a gap left by Amazon which does not sell large kitchen appliances, to attack High Street chains such as Currys. Amazon could now redress the situation by launching a cash bid of around £1.26bn or £3 a share. Newly merged Dixons Carphone, 13p better at 392.1p, could also be interested. k

http://www.thisismoney.co.uk/money/markets/article-2811381/MARKET-REPORT-Amazon-eyeing-online-white-goods-retailer-AO-World-sells-washing-machines-vacuum-cleaners.html

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AO World plc (AO.)
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Tuesday 30 September, 2014
AO World plc
Launch of ao.de in Germany
RNS Number : 9183S
AO World plc
30 September 2014




For Release: 7am 30 September 2014



AO World plc



Auf geht's! Launch of ao.de in Germany



AO World plc (the "Company"), a leader in online retailing of electrical appliances in the UK, announces the first step in its European expansion, with the launch of ao.de; the German website of ao.com which will trade through a newly created subsidiary, AO Deutschland Limited.



ao.de



We are delighted to announce that our AO.de website - which was promised at the time of IPO to be live before the end of our financial year (31 March 15) - is expected to be live tomorrow, 6 months ahead of schedule.



The site will initially be live for pre-orders with deliveries commencing on the 14th October.



The AO.de proposition will focus only on major domestic appliances initially, but otherwise will largely mirror that of the UK operation, providing customers with market leading availability, price and speed of delivery for a significant range of products supported by major brands.



From the first day of delivery AO.de will offer nationwide next day delivery services and additional services including installation and recycling. We believe this will redefine how major domestic appliances are sold in Germany, as we have achieved in the UK.



To achieve this structural advantage we have invested in end to end resource including head office, warehouse and outbase infrastructure and our own last mile delivery capability to completely own the customer experience as we do in the UK. By replicating our UK model and leveraging the investment made in our established UK systems and processes, this infrastructure has been installed within budget and 6 months early.



Current Trading



Our financial half year ends today and we are pleased to confirm our continued progress to the plan set out at IPO, even with the backdrop of such a major project in Germany. Whilst the early launch in Germany has clearly brought forward all associated costs into the current financial year, the UK business continues to perform well with overall UK revenue growth and EBITDA on track to meet our full year expectations. We continue to drive increased market share through our differentiated service proposition and look forward to announcing our interim results for the first 6 months to 30th September 2014 on 25th November 2014.





Commenting on the launch of AO.de John Roberts, Founder and CEO said:



"I am extremely proud of our team at AO and the scale of what they have achieved in our first step in our international strategy. Over the history of our business we have invested in people we believe can make things happen and then given them the confidence to try, learn and grow. The launch of AO.de is testament to their ability to execute our promises and replicate our proven business model overseas.



Of course we have work to do and we will relish the lessons that will no doubt be forthcoming. We are as passionate about building the AO brand in Germany as we are in the UK and can't wait to start bringing German consumers a better way to buy the category, as we have for UK consumers. Germany is our stepping stone to realising our ambition to become the leading online retailer in our categories in our target markets.



I would like to extend my personal thanks to everyone that contributed to the ability to bring this live so quickly for consumers because this has been a huge team effort across all our trading partners and the AO team.



AO Auf geht's!"





Analyst/Investor conference call:



AO World plc will be hosting a conference call for analysts and investors at 8:30am (UK Time) today. Please call Alys Twinley at Instinctif Partners for dial-in details on 0207 457 2077 or email alys.twinley@instinctif.com.



A replay of this conference call will be available later today.





For further information, please contact



AO World plc


+44(0)1204 672400

John Roberts

Steve Caunce

Interim Results

Financial Highlights1

· AO Website revenue up 38.6% to £173.7m (2013: £125.3m)

· Total revenue up 25.1% to £217.1m (2013: £173.5m)

· Adjusted EBITDA2 up 115% to £7.3m (2013: £3.4m)

· Adjusted EBITDA margin increased to 3.4% (2013: 2%); 9% EBITDA on incremental sales

· Adjusted Operating Profit3 up 134% to £5.5m (2013: £2.4m)

· Operating Profit for the period £0.9m (2013: £2.4m) after German set up costs of £3.3m and Long Term Incentive Plan costs of £1.3m (2013: £nil)

· Overall number of completed orders4 up 30% to 0.61m (2013: 0.47m)

Operational Highlights

· Launched our Audio-Visual ("AV") category in May 2014

· Launched ao.de, our German website six months ahead of schedule on 1st October 2014 with first customer deliveries on 14th October

Quarter Three Trading Statement

Quarter Three Trading Statement
Strong sales and continued delivery to plan

AO World plc, the UK's leading online retailer of major domestic appliances, announces strong sales for the third quarter and continued delivery against the plan set out at IPO.

AO website revenue for the three months to 31st December 2014 was up 38%, and total revenue (including third party retail and logistics) was up 26%. These figures exclude Germany, where we launched operations on October 1st.

Operationally we managed very well over the peak trading period, maintaining our industry-leading website response times, service levels and logistics performance, in spite of large spikes in volume, particularly on "Black Friday". As a result, customer satisfaction levels remained high, reflecting our market leading proposition.

Sales of audio visual categories, launched in May 2014, built well during the period and we were particularly pleased with performance in the run up to Christmas.

In Germany we are operationally ahead of plan and sales are building well, giving us confidence to explore wider marketing opportunities to drive growth.

The outlook for the full year remains in line with expectations.

Big faller today.

Results statement this morning includes: "... despite missing our financial expectations for the year ..."

That phrase alone says enough.

FINAL RESULTS FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 MARCH 2015

AO World plc delivers significant growth and operational progress

AO World plc ("the Company" or "AO"), the United Kingdom's leading online retailer of major domestic appliances ("MDA"), today announces its audited financial results for the year ended 31 March 2015.

Financial Highlights1

· Total revenue up 23.8% to £476.7m (2014: £384.9m)

· AO Website Sales2 for the UK3 up 32.9% to £381.5m (2014: £287.1m), with total UK revenue up 22.3% to £470.8m (2014: £384.9m)

· Europe annualised exit run rate on sales of £19.8m4. Europe revenue for the six months of trading was £5.8m (2014: £nil)

· UK Adjusted EBITDA5 up 47.3% to £16.5m (2014: £11.2m), with UK Adjusted EBITDA margin6 increasing to 3.5% (2014: 2.9%)

· Europe7 Adjusted EBITDA loss of £8.0m (2014: £nil) representing trading losses in our German territory from launch bringing Group Adjusted EBITDA to £8.5m (2014: £11.2m)

· Group Operating Loss of £2.2m (2014: £7.2m) after investment in Europe start-up operations of £4.2m (2014: £nil) and Long Term Incentive Plan costs of £2.5m (2014: £0.2m)

· Group Adjusted Operating Profit8 of £4.5m (2014: £8.4m) after deducting Europe Adjusted Operating Loss of £8.2m

· Group Net Funds position9 as at 31 March 2015 was £37.9m (2014: £48.7m)

· Loss per share of 0.60p (2014: 2.38p)

Operational Highlights

· Launched our Audio-Visual ("AV") category in May 2014

· Launched AO.de, our German website, on 1st October 2014 and commenced customer deliveries on 14th October 2014 with the ability to offer next day delivery to the majority of customers across the range

· Launched consumer finance on AO.com in October 2014

· Overall UK number of completed orders10 up 26.4% to 1,348k (2014: 1,066k)

· UK repeat purchase levels continued to grow from 36% to 45%

· UK NPS11 remains at its historically high level of over 80; AO.de higher still

· Won the Deloitte Employer of the Year Award at the 2015 Retail Week Awards, the Overall Award for Excellence at the Etail Awards 2014 and Large eCommerce and best eCommerce Customer Service Award at the eCommerce Awards 2014

more....

Canaccord Genuity Hold 175.30 170.00 170.00 Reiterates

Jefferies International Buy 175.30 410.00 410.00 Reiterates

A cynic might presume that the timing and nature of Bill Holroyd's departure announcement perhaps suggests that the results are worse than he was led to believe they would be, and he doesn't want to stick around.. and that saying so within 30 minutes of the Results kinda makes the connection obvious.

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Yes its hardly inspiring!

AGM and Interim Management Statement