LONDON, UK: DSW Capital has announced the successful pricing of its initial public offering (IPO) and conditional placing of 5.0 million shares at 100 pence per share to raise gross proceeds of £5 million.
It is expected that Admission to AIM will take place and dealings in the Company’s Ordinary Shares on AIM will commence at 8:00am on 16 December 2021 under the ticker “DSW” with a market capitalisation at the Placing Price of approximately £21.4 million. The ISIN of the Ordinary Shares is GB00BNG9H550 and the SEDOL is BNG9H55.
Shore Capital is acting as Nominated Adviser, Sole Bookrunner and Sole Broker in relation to the Admission and Placing and will act as Nominated Adviser and Sole Broker to the Company following Admission.
DSW Capital, owner of the Dow Schofield Watts brand, is a profitable, fast growing, mid-market, challenger professional services network with a cash generative business model and scalable platform for growth.
Originally established in 2002, by three KPMG alumni, DSW is one of the first platform models disrupting the traditional model of accounting professional services firms. DSW currently operates licensing arrangements with 19 licensee businesses with 82 fee earners (“FEs”), across six offices in England and one in Scotland. These trade primarily under the Dow Schofield Watts brand.
The Group has a strong growth record, with two year historical Adjusted Operating Profit CAGR of 28 per cent. For the year ended 31 March 2021, DSW received an average licence fee of 14.7 per cent. of licensee revenues and generated Operating Profit of £1.7 million and operating cash flow of £0.8 million. The three-year historical Network Revenue CAGR to FY21 was 22 per cent.
DSW’s vision is for the DSW Network to become the most sought-after destination for ambitious, entrepreneurial professionals to start and develop their own businesses. Through a licensing model, DSW gives professionals the autonomy and flexibility to fulfil their potential.
Being part of the DSW Network brings support benefits in recruitment, funding and infrastructure. DSW’s challenger model attracts experienced, senior professionals, predominantly with a “Big 4” accounting firm background, who want to launch their own businesses and recognise the value of the Dow Schofield Watts brand and the synergies which come from being part of the DSW Network.
DSW aims to scale its agile model through organic growth, geographical expansion, additional service lines and investing in “Break Outs” (existing teams in larger firms). The Directors are targeting high margin, complementary, niche service lines with a strong synergistic fit with the existing DSW Network.
James Dow, Chief Executive of DSW Capital, commented: “We are delighted to announce our IPO and Admission to AIM, which are important milestones for DSW Capital. The successful fundraise will support our strategy to capitalise on the substantial growth opportunities presented in the changing UK accounting market and our vision to become the most sought-after destination for ambitious, entrepreneurial professionals to start and develop their own businesses.
“The success of our model is demonstrated by the rapid rise of the DSW Network up the sector rankings, which recently entered Accountancy Age’s Top 50 Accountancy Firms. We believe our new quoted company status will help raise the profile of DSW further, enabling us to accelerate the growth of our Network.
“I would like to thank all the licensees, partners and employees across the DSW Network for their hard work and commitment and our new investors for their support, as we enter the next phase in this exciting journey.”
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