Booktopia IPO

Booktopia is Australia's largest online book retailer with annual sales of more than $200 million. In December 2020 the company listed on the ASX after successfully raising $43.1 million. RGC was pleased to provide strategic and tactical media relations to the company throughout the IPO, resulting in hundreds of positive news stories.

THE IPO

Established in 2004 by Tony Nash, Simon Nash, and Steven Traurig, Booktopia has grown into the largest Australian-owned online book retailer with revenue in FY2020 of $165.8 million. The company currently has a 6% share of the Australian book market and accounts for almost 15% of total online consumer book sales in Australia. Booktopia Group’s success in online book retailing has been driven by its capabilities in information technology, logistics, innovation, internet marketing, product knowledge and online retail.

The Company’s revenue has grown at a CAGR of approximately 26.4% from FY2015 to FY2020 and Booktopia Group has made the AFR/BRW Fast 100 eight times between 2009 to 2017. Since its inception, Booktopia Group has sold over 35.5 million items to more than 5 million customers across Australia and New Zealand.

In November 2020 the company lodged a prospectus to sell 10.9 million new shares in the company and 7.9 million existing shares at $2.30 per share, giving the company a market capitalisation at the Offer Price of $315.8 million.

Of the total proceeds of $43.1 million, $25.1 million will be applied to fund growth through further investment in the company’s 14,000 sqm distribution facility in Sydney, increasing stock and working capital, listing costs, employee shares and paying down debt.

Despite one of the busiest periods for new listings in recent memory, the Booktopia listing was a huge success for all stakeholders. The company's shares began trading on the ASX on December 3, 2020, and first traded at $2.86, a 24% premium to the $2.30 issue price, and reached an intra-day high of $2.90.

RGC'S ROLE

RGC was appointed by Booktopia to manage all media profiling and issues management throughout the IPO process and ensure a successful listing by building strong positive sentiment towards the company before and during the Offer period.

RGC developed a comprehensive media outreach strategy to build the company's profile with the investment community prior to the launch. This resulted in dozens of high profile stories include large features in The Australian and a story on Nine News in Sydney.

We developed all major announcements during the IPO, including for the launch of the Prospectus as well as managing media for the listing event at the ASX Building in Sydney.

With virtually no negative stories throughout the entire process and hundreds of media mentions, the strong earned media campaign played an important role in the success of the IPO and setting up Booktopia for a prosperous future. Following the completion of the IPO, RGC was appointed to undertake ongoing media and investor relations support for the company.