Premium British chocolatier and omni-channel retailer, Hotel Chocolat has announced it is seeking to raise £50m by trading its shares on AIM, London’s junior stock market.
With admission expected in the second quarter of 2016, the chocolatier plans to use the proceeds to continue roll-out of its stores globally, enhance its manufacturing capacity and improve its website.
The group sells its products online and through a network of 84 stores in the UK and abroad - including five 'shop and cafe formats named Cocoa Bar-Cafe.
With 5 million transactions and £16 average transaction value, in the year ended 28 June 2015 revenue stood at £81.1m and EBITDA of £7.9m.
The business was founded in 1993 by Angus Thirlwell and Peter Harris and has traded under the Hotel Chocolat brand since 2003.
Angus Thirlwell, Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Hotel Chocolat, said: “Hotel Chocolat is built on our core values of authenticity, originality and ethical trading. We are very excited at the prospect of listing as it is the next logical step in our growth plans and will enable us to accelerate the many initiatives that we have in place, in particular additional investment in our British chocolate manufacturing, in new stores and in our digital offering.”