Grant Thornton advises The Pebble Group plc

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December 2019

The Pebble Group

Adviser to The Pebble Group on their IPO

£176 million

Grant Thornton team

Samantha Harrison
Director

Consumer markets

Sell side

Public company transactions

We are delighted to have advised The Pebble Group on their IPO.

The Pebble Group plc (“Pebble” or the “Group”) provides products, services and technology to the global promotional products industry. Its principal areas of activity are (i) the design, sourcing and delivery of creative promotional merchandise and branded products to blue chip clients for corporate and consumer marketing activity, through Brand Addition, and (ii) the provision of SaaS to SME promotional products distributors, through Facilisgroup.

Following a period of organic sales growth and acquisitions, the Group has demonstrated profitability and strong cash generation under its current ownership. The Placing and Admission have paid down all debt and enabled a partial equity exit for Elysian Capital. Pebble will operate with a debt-free capital structure following IPO, enabling the Group to invest more readily in the future growth and development of the business.

The transaction provides a further demonstration of our independent Nomad model, as we continue to provide market leading regulatory and commercial advice to public companies and private companies seeking growth by way of an IPO.

We were supporting a company that were targeting growth and wanted to build on a recent acquisition who had made the strategic decision that this was best served on the public markets.

The IPO provided a successful exit strategy for Elysian with us supporting our client through the admission process.

Timeline of events

December 2019

Admission to AIM at placing price of 105pence per share
Revenue of £93m
EBITDA £10m
Private equity house sells 65.7% of its pre-placing shareholding for £46.8m
Private equity house retains interest in 13.9% of shares representing £24.4m

September 2020

Interim results announced
SaaS business performing well
Sales impacted by pandemic but recovered in 2021
Strong share price performance after headwinds of COVID-19

March 2021

Full year results announced
Private equity house sells down to a 5.5% shareholding at 135 pence per share realising £18.9m

September 2021

Interim results announced
Revenue up 39%
EBITDA up 69%
Private equity house sells remaining stake at 150pence per share representing £13.9m
Full exit by private equity house 22-months post-IPO at average price of 143pence representing £8.4m uplift in value since IPO

Testimonial

We are pleased to have reached another landmark in our journey by joining AIM, and are proud to have achieved the largest IPO fundraise on the market so far in 2019. Grant Thornton provided crucial support throughout the IPO process, and have helped us in ensuring that the admission ran to timetable and achieved our objectives. We very much look forward to continuing our relationship with Grant Thornton as we enter the next stage of the Group’s development.

Chris Lee CEO, The Pebble Group plc