Wiggle planning stockmarket float

Fancy owning a part of Wiggle? The online retailer is considering a stockmarket flotation, which would move it from a privately-held company to one in which anyone could buy shares.

According to the Telegraph’s Ashley Armstrong, Wiggle’s owner, private equity firm Bridgepoint, is working with advisors from investment bank Rothschild on a potential initial public offering.

A Bridgepoint spokesman said no advisers had yet been mandated for an IPO, but Rothschild has been a longtime adviser to the company.

Then-owners Isis Partners were believed to have considered taking Wiggle public in 2011, but chose instead to sell the company to Bridgepoint in a deal that valued Wiggle at £180m.

But floating the companies it owns appears to be part of Bridgepoint’s business model. Another Bridgepoint holding, clothing retailer Fat Face is in the process of being floated with pricing expected to be set early this week that will value the store chain at around £440m.

Two sources familiar with the situation told the Telegraph that Wiggle was considering the flotation, with one adding it would be “mad not to” given the current multiples that are available in IPOs to companies with an online presence.

In March Wiggle advertised for a chief financial officer with an ad in which it said: “IPO experience would be an advantage.” The company played down speculation about a float, with a spokesman telling Financial News: "We would naturally look for IPO experience in our CFO in order to keep our options open."

Wiggle was founded in 1999 out of Portsmouth bike shop Butler Cycles by Mitch Dall and Harvey Jones. It grew rapidly on the back of the combination of the road cycling boom of the 2000s and the growth of internet mail order.

In 2006 Isis Partners and Wiggle management bought 42 percent of the company and injected £12.3m into it, supporting its growth by 2011 to revenues of £86m. Before tax, Wiggle made a profit of £12.3m on revenues of £140.7m for the year ending April 2013.

Dall sold his 26 percent stake in the company to Isis Partners and the management team in 2009, while Jones retired from active involvement in November of that year and six months later set off on a 55ft sailing yacht for a year-long voyage to the Arctic. Jones is now a trustee of environmental law firm ClientEarth while Dall’s last known venture was portable jetwasher maker MobiWasher.

Wiggle’s most significant online rival, Chain Reaction Cycles, also grew out of a bike shop, Ballynure Cycles in Northern Ireland, and also emerged as an online entity in 1999. The most recent available figures put Chain Reaction’s revenues at £155.6 million for 2012, with a profit of £861,000.

Chain Reaction is still owned by the family of Ballynure Cycles founders George and Janice Watson.

It's not yet known if Wiggle's IPO plans include sending out Haribo with dividend cheques.