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Bytes IPO over subscribed
Business valued at approximately £646.6m as it marks a successful IPO with conditional trading starting on the LSE
Bytes has ushered in a fresh era in the company’s history after successfully launching an oversubscribed IPO and revealing its offer price.
The channel player has started conditional trading with a pricing of shares on the London Stock Exchange under the ticker “BYIT” at 270 pence each, valuing the business at approximately £646.6m.
It has been a fairly smooth passage for Bytes to go public, with the firm revealing its intention back at the start of November and publishing a prospectus at the start of December.
The offer from Bytes comprises 54.5% of the company’s issued share capital and it will raise total gross proceeds of approximately £352.4m.
Those who applied for shares in advance will be able to purchase those today but the rest of the market will have to wait until 17 December before they go on to the main listed securities of the LSE and the Main Board of the Johannesburg Stock Exchange.
“It gives us great pleasure to welcome our new shareholders to the business,” said Neil Murphy, CEO of the Bytes Group.
“We believe listing as a standalone group gives us a tremendous platform to deliver on the strong growth opportunities we see in our markets. We are delighted by the level of interest shown by potential investors and are looking forward to this exciting next stage for Bytes Technology Group.”
Expected timetable of principal events
- Today marks the publication of the pricing statement and the offer price and the start of conditional dealings on the London Stock Exchange.
- From the 17 December Bytes will be admitted and the trading of unconditional dealings in the Shares on the London Stock Exchange and commencement of dealings in the Shares on the JSE.
Investors are getting the chance to back a software and cloud player that delivered a gross profit of £79.2m, a 24.5% increase on the previous year, and adjusted operating profit of £31.7m, which was also up by 53.9% on 2019.
Bytes employs a 650-strong workforce and has built up a varied customer base, with 4,929 customers in financial year 2020 (FY20) across the private and public sectors. The business has also established relationships with more than 100 supplier partners and their distributors.
Bytes now joins the ranks of Computacenter and Softcat as a listed channel player that will provide the wider market with an indication of how the channel is faring.
