Perfume chain Douglas wants to go public

German perfume chain Douglas is considering an IPO, preferably still in the first quarter of this year, and values itself at seven billion euros.

Clearing debts

If market conditions permit it, Douglas hopes to pilot itself onto the Frankfurt Stock Exchange in March. However, no final decision has yet been taken on the timing, Reuters quotes internal sources. Douglas wants to use the proceeds mainly to pay off debt, which stood at 3.4 billion euros at the end of September. That is almost five times its adjusted core profit.

However, since former Albert Heijn CEO Sander van der Laan took office, Douglas has been going through a growth spurt. In the financial year ending September 2023, sales rose by more than 12 % to more than four billion euros and EBITDA to 726 million euros.