Jimmy Choo inches higher on LSE debut

Jimmy Choo inched higher on its London stockmarket debut, watched closely by even the least fashion-conscious of bankers after a flurry of cancelled listings across Europe.

The luxury shoemaker’s stock market performance is viewed by many as a test of whether upcoming offerings can withstand the economic weakness and attendant market turbulence that prompted France’s Spie and Italy’s Intercos to pull their proposed listings last week, with Richard Branson’s Virgin Money following suit.

“All transactions are on a daily watch,” one senior banker involved in new share issues said.

Shares in the brand opened at 141p when conditional trading began on the London Stock Exchange yesterday, up 0.7% on the 140p offer price.

Owner JAB Luxury had priced the offering of 25.9% of the business at the bottom of the original price range of between 140 and 180p a share, valuing the company at £545.6m (€687m).

“If Burberry can build a £2bn luxury lifestyle brand on the back of a trench coat, no one should bet against Jimmy Choo doing the same on the heel of a stiletto,” said Fflur Roberts, head of luxury goods at consumer markets researcher EuromonitorInternational .

However, its growth potential has been presented to investors as hinging partly on expansion in China, where rivals Prada and LVMH have been hit by weakening demand inrecent months.

– Reuters