MySale ramps up expansion with Danish Invitetobuy acquisition
MySale, the Australian flash sales site, is pushing ahead with its European expansion, after snapping up a 60 per cent stake in a rival Scandinavian website.
The online retailer, which counts Sir Philip Green and Mike Ashley’s Sports Direct among its shareholders, said yesterday it planned to use its acquisition of Denmark’s Invitetobuy to launch further MySale sites across the Nordics.
It did not disclose the price of the acquisition. The deal comes after MySale launched websites in Britain and the US following its Aim listing in June.
Its market debut was mired in chaos after an error in its listing price sent shares crashing more than 25 per cent on the day.
Shares were priced at 226p, but were inadvertently listed at 2.26p, sparking automated selling of the stock as trading programmes reacted to the lowball price.
It has since recovered, but shares are still trading below its initial offer price and closed down 1.1 per cent yesterday at 221p.
It is understood to be in discussions with its joint broker and nominated adviser Macquarie over compensation for the error. The company declined to comment.
“I was somewhat shocked and shaken. But look, we have got the price back to where it is and it has all been an interesting learning curve on how things can be out of control,” Jamie Jackson, MySale’s co-founder, said.
“Our business hasn’t changed. It didn’t change that day… and we are still delivering what we predicted,” he added.
Sales rose 23.3 per cent to A$224.3m (£125m) in the year to 30 June, thanks to strong growth in New Zealand and Australia and as customers flocked to its new sites in the UK, US and Asia.
The group tuned in a A$62,144 pre-tax loss compared with a A$5.8m profit last year after it invested in new warehouses and new sites.