Fashion brand Quiz plans AIM listing to accelerate growth

Womenswear retailer Quiz has announced its intention to list on the London Stock Exchange in a £200 million initial public offering.

The Glasgow-based business will use proceeds from the AIM listing to accelerate growth and it will allow the company's founders, including chief executive Tarak Ramzan, to cash out part of their holdings.

Quiz, which has 73 standalone stores and 167 concessions in the UK and Ireland, raked in revenues of £89.8 million last year on operating profit of £10.3 million.

The group is also present in 19 countries through 70 international franchise stores and concessions.

Mr Ramzan said: “Quiz is a strong and distinctive omni-channel fashion brand with a clear customer and product focus.

“Fast fashion is in Quiz's DNA and our 'just in time' model ensures that we are always responding in real time to new trends as they emerge.

“I am very confident that we have a well-invested infrastructure, a fantastic team and a clear strategy to accelerate further the growth of the Quiz brand across all channels and markets.”

Quiz specialises in occasion wear, evening wear and casual wear for what it calls fashion forward women'' in the 16-35 age range.

The retailer has also proposed the appointment of JD Sports chief executive Peter Cowgill as non-executive chairman.

Online and international are the group's fastest growing segments, with 42% and 64.2% growth per year between 2015 and 2017 respectively.

The group was founded in Glasgow in 1993 and employs approximately 1,350 people in the UK