Superdry raises 12 million pounds in fresh funding amid turnaround

Superdry has concluded its equity raise and secured 12 million pounds in fresh funding.

The bulk of the funding came from the 14.5 million shares placed by Peel Hunt and Liberum with certain institutional and other investors at an issue price of 76.3 pence per share, raising gross proceeds of approximately 11.1 million pounds.

Additionally, retail investors subscribed via the REX platform for a total of 1.21 million REX retail offer shares at the issue price, raising gross proceeds of approximately 0.9 million pounds.

The share price represented a 9.9 percent discount to the closing share price of 84.7 pence on 2 May 2023, the day the equity raise was announced.

Julian Dunkerton, the CEO and founder of Superdry, also participated in the latest equity raise, increasing his stake in the business from 24.74 percent to 25.37 percent.

Superdry has been working to strengthen its balance sheet after announcing a string of profit warnings largely due to a decrease in demand and lagged recovery following the pandemic.

Turnaround programme

Prior to the pandemic, the company had been undergoing a turnaround strategy led by Dunkerton who is looking to return the brand to the heights it once held as a leading high street fashion retailer.

The transformation has been hindered by lockdowns during the pandemic, and the retailer has announced a number of cost cutting initiatives since the end of lockdowns to get it back on track.

In March, Superdry reached an agreement to offload its intellectual property (IP) assets within the APAC region to South Korean firm Cowell Fashion Company for 50 million dollars.

Last month, the retailer announced it had struck a deal with lender Bantry Bay to increase the borrowing availability level under its asset-backed facility until the sale of the APAC business is completed.

This week, Superdry confirmed that chief operating officer COO Silvana Bonello had stepped down from the business.

Bonello joined the high street retailer back in 2021 and played a key role in the company’s ongoing transformation strategy.