UK fashion e-tailer Farfetch prepares for NYSE listing

By

Matthieu Guinebault

Translated by
Nicola Mira

Published
Aug 20, 2018

British fashion and luxe e-tailer Farfetch has filed its application for a stock exchange listing in New York. The number of shares involved in the flotation and their price is as yet undisclosed. 
 

The news is far from unexpected. Last March, the site led by London-based Portuguese businessman José Neves announced the choice of JP Morgan and Goldman Sachs as the banks working on the operation. At the time, financial analysts estimated the potential valuation of Farfetch at about GBP4.0 billion, equivalent to €4.5 billion.

The news came as the site proudly reported a revenue of $268 million in the first half of 2018, well above the $173 million achieved in the same period a year earlier. It was not the only increase on record for Farfetch though: six-monthly pre-tax losses grew in a year from $30 million to $68 million, as the website staged a plethora of new initiatives in recent months.

These included the launch of a dedicated site for watches and jewellery, the acquisition of Chinese social marketing specialist CuriosityChina, the introduction of the Dream Assembly tech accelerator and the signing of an agreement with the Chalhoub group to launch in the Middle East.

In terms of labels, Farfetch initiated partnerships with Chanel and Burberry, while Harvey Nichols put the e-tailer in charge of boosting its online sales. Farfetch also set up a 90 minute delivery service in Gucci flagships, while Fendi chose the luxury site to start selling its bespoke products online.

Farfetch currently retails products by 3,200 brands. It claims about 935,000 active users, up 40% compared to the previous financial year. Since last year, the Chinese e-tail giant JD.com ranks among Farfetch’s shareholders.