Stationery & Office Supplies Ltd Going Public, To Raise $95m

Local family owned business, Stationery & Office Supplies Ltd is going public. The 50-year-old company, owned by the McDaniel family is a leading supplier of office furniture and related supplies.

 

About The Company

The Company opened its doors on July 23rd, 1965; beginning its fifty (50) year journey under the guidance of Mr. Richard Hing, Mr. George Hew and Mr. David McDaniel. In 1970, the Company became wholly owned by the McDaniel family when all of the issued ordinary shares of the Company were acquired by Mr. David McDaniel and Mrs. Marjorie McDaniel.

The Company now operates out of a 35,000 square feet warehouse, office and showroom on 21-25 Beechwood Avenue in Kingston. The Head Office currently employs eighty-three (83) team members and also serves as the home base for eleven (11) delivery vehicles, including trucks, which support quick and efficient service delivery to its customers which is one of the Company’s many hallmarks.

As the Company’s customer base grew, the Company saw it prudent to expand its physical presence within the island and in 2010 opened its Montego Bay location in the new Fairview Office Complex. The 3,000 square feet location houses 1,200 square feet of office and showroom space and a 1,800 square foot warehousing facility supported by a staff complement of sixteen (16). The Montego Bay team serves customers on the western side of the island, making deliveries from Trelawny to Westmoreland. The Company has expanded from its core business of office supplies and stationery items to include modular office furniture, partitions, metal products, chairs, cabinets and shelving.

The company carries leading international brands in office furniture – Fursys and Boss – for which they are the sole local distributors. In 2011, the Company capitalized on the demand for lower priced items of comparable quality, by introducing the first of two (2) proprietary brands, the first being the “Image” brand and shortly thereafter in 2012, the Company introduced its second brand “Torch”. The Company prides itself in offering excellent after sales service to its customers.

The Company boasts a credit customer base of over 3,180, in addition to thousands of cash customers, highlighting SOS’ significant market presence within the stationery, office supplies and modular furniture industry in the island.  

 

Commercial Shredding

During the last six (6) years, the Company added commercial shredding to its suite of services offered to the general public. The service has become popular among entities which have large volumes of waste paper and other sensitive material that stores data, but are concerned about improper disposal methods.

 

The Offer

In order to provide working capital support to its operations and in order to allow the Company to increase its stock levels and thereby increase its turnover, to liquidate some of its debt obligations and acquire an adjoining property to its location in Kingston at 34 Collins Green Avenue for additional warehousing space, the Company is seeking to raise approximately $95,048,200 by inviting subscriptions for up to 50,024,100 Shares from the general public and the Reserved Share Applicants. The Company estimates that the expenses in the Invitation will not exceed $12,000,000 inclusive of General Consumption Tax.

 

The Company has made 27,524,100 Shares available for subscription by the general public at the Subscription Price, and additionally, up to another 22,500,000 Shares in the Invitation are initially reserved for priority application from, and subscription by, the following persons:

• 12,500,000 Shares (“the Employee and Family Shares”) for all of the employees of the Company, excluding any of the executive directors of the Company (“the Employees”) and immediate family members of the executive directors, who are not deemed to be “Connected Persons”. All Employees will be given an opportunity to purchase Shares at a discounted price of $1.60 per Share and
• 10,000,000 Shares (“the JN Fund Managers’ Client Reserved Shares”). That is, 10,000,000 Shares shall be made available for subscription by clients of JN Fund Managers Limited (“JN Fund Managers’ Clients”) at the Subscription Price.

If any of the Reserved Shares are not subscribed for by the persons entitled to them they will become available for subscription by the general public at the Subscription Price.

After the IPO the general public will own 11% of the business, the reserved applicants 9%, with the remaining 80% being controlled by the founders and family members.

 

Key Dates

• Publication of Prospectus: July 4th, 2017
• Opening Date: 9:00 A.M. July 19th, 2017
• Closing Date: 4:30 P.M. July 26th, 2017

Property Acquisition

The Company recently negotiated the purchase of 34 Collins Avenue, which is a property (with a usable building located thereon) that abuts and is contiguous to its offices at Beechwood Avenue. The Company estimates that the acquisition of this property will allow it to initially increase its warehousing space by approximately 10,000 square feet and then scale up to approximately 20,000 square feet of warehousing space effectively increasing its occupiable space in Kingston by approximately fifty-seven per cent (57%). This increased warehousing space will allow the Company to increase its stock levels and the turnover of its stock with a resultant increase in revenue.

 

Company Performance

According to the prospectus, the company has consistently increased its revenues over the five year period FY 2012-2016. During this timeframe, the Company’s revenue from core operations grew by a compound average annual growth rate (CAGR) of 10.48%, culminating with the Company generating all-time high revenues of J$702.07M in FY 2016. Revenue earned in FY 2016 was 12.05% higher than J$626.58M for FY 2015.

The company says the steady improvement in their revenues have been attributable to organic expansion driven by the achievement of deeper penetration in the market for the Company’s products and services. The Company has expanded its product offerings, adding to the list of brands it distributes and venturing into manufacturing its own brands of furniture – Image and Torch.

Since 2012, gross profit has trended upwards growing by a CAGR of 15.12%. Lower cost of sales led to an improved gross profit position of J$338.67M in 2016, which was a 26.09% increase over that earned in 2015. Additionally, gross profit margins have exceeded 40% between FY 2012 and 2016, improving year over year to 48.24% relative to 42.87% in 2015, and 40.92% in 2012.

Full prospectus here (PDF)