Float marks SuperGroup's climb to top

Chief executive Julian Dunkerton built up SuperGroup, which owns the Superdry brand, from a market stall in Cheltenham more than 20 years ago into a chain with 40 stores and 54 concessions in House of Fraser.

The float of 31.6 per cent of SuperGroup values the overall company at 395m, while Mr Dunkerton's stake falls from 53 per cent to 33 per cent, still giving him a 130m share of the business. His partners, brand designer James Holder and international head Theo Karpathios, will also pick up multi-million pound payouts as their stake falls to 15 per cent.

The owners are taking 105m out of the business in total through the float, with a further 15m earmarked to fund growth. The management's holding will fall to about 64.4 per cent.

The group recently opened its 18th UK Superdry store in Sheffield's Meadowhall shopping centre, its largest at 6,300 sq ft.

Regionally, it also has concessions in House of Fraser stores in Hull and Leeds. It also recently revealed plans to open a Cult Clothing store in 9,000sq ft space at the front of St Stephen's shopping centre in Hull. The space has been empty since the centre's opening in 2007.

Last month the group reported a 29 per cent rise in like-for-like sales in the five weeks to January 3. Total group sales in 2009 rocketed 95 per cent to 119m, and the group is debt-free.

Unconditional dealings in SuperGroup, which is being advised by Seymour Pierce, are expected to start on March 24.

The group recently announced former Vodafone director Peter Bamford as its non-executive chairman, and Stephen Glew, Keith Edelman and Indira Thambiah will join as non-executive directors.

Mr Dunkerton and Mr Holder established the Superdry brand six years ago after a trip to Tokyo, and it has proved popular with celebrities including David Beckham. Separately, educational whiteboards firm Promethean also confirmed a launch price which values the firm at around 400m.

The group is selling 46.4 per cent of the business through the issue of new shares as well as private equity firm Apax selling its 25 per cent stake.

The move will leave 10.4 per cent of shares in the hands of senior directors although staff at its headquarters in Blackburn will learn next week the scale of their own windfall.

Staff are likely to gain shares ranging from hundreds of pounds to several thousands depending on length of service.