DJ Samarkand Group Limited: Intention to Float on AQSE Growth Market
Samarkand Group Limited (SMK)
Samarkand Group Limited: Intention to Float on AQSE Growth Market
08-Feb-2021 / 07:00 GMT/BST
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ordinary shares (the "Ordinary Shares") referred to in this announcement or in any final UK Growth Prospectus except
solely on the basis of the information contained in any such UK Growth Prospectus including the risk factors set out
therein, that may be published by Samarkand Group Limited (to be re-registered as a public limited company and renamed
Samarkand Group Plc) in due course in connection with a possible placing of Ordinary Shares in the Company and the
possible admission of the Company's entire issued ordinary share capital to the Aquis Stock Exchange ("AQSE") Growth
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from the Company's registered office and on the Company's website at http://samarkand.global/ subject to certain access
restrictions.
DATE: 08 February 2021
Samarkand Group Limited
("Samarkand", the "Company" or together with its subsidiaries the "Group")
Intention to Float on AQSE Growth Market
Samarkand Group Limited, the cross-border eCommerce technology and retail group opening up the world's largest market
for brands and retailers, is pleased to announce its intention to apply for admission of its Ordinary Shares to trading
on the Aquis Stock Exchange Growth Market ("Admission").
The Company is proposing to raise approximately GBP10m by way of a placing to institutional investors (the "Placing") and
a subscription to qualifying investors (the "Subscription") (together the "Fundraising").
The Company will be listed on the Apex segment of the AQSE Growth Market. Admission is targeted for March 2021.
Samarkand Highlights
- Headquartered in London, Samarkand is a cross-border eCommerce ("CBEC") company focused on connecting Western
brands with China, the world's largest eCommerce market.
- The Board of Directors on Admission will comprise a team that is highly experienced in retail and eCommerce,
including; Tanith Dodge former group HR Director of Marks & Spencer Group Plc and Value Retail (Bicester Village
Collection) who is also a member of the advisory council of PwC and serves on the Board of Robert Walters Plc and;
Keith Higgins who served as eCommerce Director at P&G for 10 years before heading up Unilever's global eCommerce
strategy for a further 10 years leading to his current role as Chief Customer Development Officer at Unilever plc.
- The Group's proprietary software platform, Nomad, covers commerce, distribution, logistics, payments and analytics.
- For the year ended 31 March 2020, the Group's revenue was GBP6.8 million (2019: GBP4.5 million), its EBITDA loss was
GBP0.8 million (2019: GBP1.0 million) and its loss before tax was GBP1.3 million (2019: GBP1.2 million).
- For the eight-month period ended 30 November 2020, the Group's revenue was GBP16.0 million (2019: GBP3.8 million)
including exceptional revenue of GBP5.8m, its EBITDA profit was GBP2.3 million (2019: loss GBP0.8 million) and its profit
before tax was GBP1.8 million (2019: loss GBP1.1 million).
- The Group achieved a turnover of approximately GBP1.8 million for the month of November 2020 alone.
- Samarkand works with a growing list of leading European brands such as 111SKIN, Shay & Blue, Omorovicza, ICONIC
London, Philip Kingsley, Temple Spa, Zita West Products, and Planet Organic.
- The Group has successfully grown its own brand, Probio7, acquired in December 2017. Using its technology,
distribution and market intel revenues have grown from GBP1.2 million for the 11 months prior to acquisition to GBP3.5
million for the 12-month period ended December 2020.
- Samarkand has its own fulfilment operations and partners with global logistics providers into Asia.
- The Group currently employs over 90 people across its UK and China operations.
David Hampstead, Co-Founder and CEO of Samarkand said:
"The Chinese eCommerce market is larger than the next 10 markets combined and more than 50c of every dollar spent
online globally happens in China, yet many Western brands have struggled to penetrate this market effectively. Since
2016, Samarkand has been helping these brands penetrate and maximise their exposure in this key territory.
"We established Samarkand to provide a more direct-to-consumer route to the world's largest eCommerce market reducing
the risks, costs and barriers to entry that have discouraged Western brands from entering the Chinese market for so
long.
"With the recent global events and the full impact of Brexit starting to be felt by brands and retailers it has never
been more important for companies to reach new markets. In the first few months of 2020 China added 92m new eCommerce
consumers, more than the entire population of Germany, bringing the number of active consumers to 715m.
"With our suite of solutions we are ideally placed to take advantage of the rapid market expansion and the
macro-economic changes that are taking place. We have achieved 166% like-for-like growth in recurring revenue in the 8
months to 30 November 2020 vs the prior period and grown our list of brand partners and number of deployments of our
technology.
"The listing on Aquis will enable us to access capital which can accelerate our momentum, maximise the opportunity
ahead and deliver outstanding results for all stakeholders. We look forward to welcoming new investors at an extremely
exciting time for the Group and to sharing a highly prosperous future."
Alasdair Haynes, founder and CEO of Aquis Exchange said:
"We are delighted about the prospect of Samarkand listing on the Apex segment of the Aquis Stock Exchange growth
market. Samarkand is a compelling story, supporting retailers in expanding their online presence at a time when a
strong eCommerce strategy has never been more relevant.
"We believe that this is a very exciting story which will appeal to both quality institutions and private investors
alike. Aquis is proud to have made it possible for private investors to participate in the listing process.
"AQSE offers growth companies, like Samarkand, a great home to develop, underpinned by best in class trading
technology, high governance standards and proportionate rules and systems. A listing on Apex is ideal for a fast growth
technology business with its narrow spreads and restrictions on short selling. We look forward to seeing where
Samarkand goes next on its exciting journey."
Samarkand's main technology and service solutions are:
Nomad Checkout, a Software as a Service ("SaaS") based solution that integrates with popular eCommerce software
providers, such as Shopify, and enables Clients to introduce their products through their own eCommerce website to
Chinese consumers, with the sale finalised on the Nomad platform in China. Nomad Checkout allows Chinese consumers to
use payment methods popular in China, such as Alipay and WeChat Pay, and benefit from improved delivery methods and
product authenticity. An "Enterprise" version is already in use by one of Europe's largest eCommerce companies.
Nomad Storefront supports the operation of eCommerce stores on well-known Chinese platforms (such as Tmall,
Xiaohongshu, amongst others) on behalf of Clients. Delivered as a managed service from the Group's office in Shanghai,
the platform provides product management, order processing, stock management and analytics across multiple eCommerce
platforms giving Clients a consolidated solution to the fragmented Chinese CBEC market.
Nomad Commerce offers customisable eCommerce solutions for Clients that want to establish their own eCommerce presence
in China. Integrated with the dominant payment providers such as AliPay and WeChat Pay it also supports a content
management system, recommendation engine and detailed analytics and event tracking. Hosted on AliCloud infrastructure
in China to provide low-latency, high speed experience for consumers not impacted by Chinese internet restrictions
which often effect sites hosted outside of China.
Nomad Distribution allows Clients to access key opinion leaders ("KOLs") and celebrities to generate sales in China's
fast growing social commerce space. Social commerce has emerged as a driving force of eCommerce in China in recent
years and estimated at CNY 3,703 billion (GBP423 billion) of Gross Merchandise Value ("GMV") in 2020. As well as
providing Clients access to this sector, it also enables their products to be drop-shipped through CBEC directly to
consumers in China.
In 2021 the CBEC market in China is forecast to reach GBP138 billion, growing from GBP14 billion in 2014. The growth in the
Chinese CBEC market has been supported by the introduction of a range of policies and infrastructure by the Chinese
government to encourage the growth of the sector (including the introduction of 105 special CBEC Zones across the
country and the relaxation of testing and registration requirements, such as animal testing for skincare products).
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