Edinburgh’s Parsley Box valued at £83.8m in IPO

Edinburgh-based ready meals firm Parsley Box said on Friday it will have a stock market capitalisation of £83.8 million on admission to the AIM market of the London Stock Exchange.

Parsley Box said its initial public offering (IPO) of 8.5 million shares at 200p each will raised gross proceeds of £17 million, comprising £5 million for the company and £12 million for the selling shareholders.

Commencement of dealings in the ordinary shares is expected to take place on March 31, 2021.

All identified Parsley Box customers who successfully applied for shares received an 100% allocation.

On admission, Parsley Box directors and their connected persons will be interested in 32.1% of its issued ordinary shares.

The company will have 41.9 million ordinary shares in issue and a free float of 45.4%.

“Parsley Box, the direct to consumer provider of ready meals focussed on the Baby Boomer+ demographic announces its proposed admission to trading on AIM,” said the Edinburgh firm in a statement.

“The company conducted an initial public offering by way of offers of up to 2,500,000 new ordinary shares and 6,000,000 existing ordinary shares at 200 pence per ordinary shares …

“The offers comprise a placing of 1,353,255 new ordinary shares and 6,000,000 existing ordinary shares with institutional and other investors, a customer offer of 646,745 new ordinary shares and a direct subscription with existing shareholders of 500,000 new ordinary shares …

“The offers have conditionally raised gross proceeds of approximately £17 million, comprising £5 million for the company and £12 million for the selling shareholders.”

Parsley Box CEO Kevin Dorren said: “The IPO is a significant milestone for the business and I see it as firing the starting gun on our next phase of growth. I am looking forward to leading the business through this exciting new chapter.

“The strong demand for our IPO from both blue-chip institutions and our own customers was a real endorsement of our business and the market opportunities that lie ahead of us.

“I’m pleased to welcome our new shareholders on board.

“I’d also like to thank our employees who do so much day in, day out to ensure we deliver great service to our customers.”