Australia’s largest online book retailer Booktopia has again called off its bid for a listing on the ASX, with fund managers concerned about competition from online retail giant Amazon.
Feedback from institutional investors was that, despite double digit revenue growth over a number of years, a string of disappointments in the retail sector was weighing on fund managers, said a report in The Australian newspaper. Many have questioned how the group would fight off competition from larger rival Amazon.
Investors were said to be concerned about the recent poor performance of other online retail businesses, including Redbubble, Temple and Webster and SurfStitch.
The company planned to make a run at the ASX boards in May this year and organised site trips for fund managers to its headquarters in Sydney’s western suburbs. The plans were then put on hold until after the August reporting season. At the time, CEO Tony Nash said: “There are no guarantees when you prepare for an IPO."
In its latest attempt, Booktopia was seeking to raise $40 million at $2 a share, which would value the company at about $105 million.
The Australian-owned online-only retail store has almost doubled its sales since the 2015 acquisition of its largest local competitor, Bookworld – the online retail arm of publisher Penguin Random House – which boosted its share of the local online book market from 62% to more than 80%. Booktopia’s 10,000-square-metre automated distribution centre at Homebush in Sydney holds 750,000 units with 110,000 titles in stock.
The company is said to be considering other growth avenues for the business.