ADIL
Adili plc
("Adili" or "the Company")
First Dealings & Admission to AIM
* Share dealings in Adili, the online ethical fashion retailer, begin on AIM
today.
* Adili has placed 8,571,600 Ordinary Shares at 17.5p per share to raise �1.5
million gross. The net proceeds will fund growth, including the creation of
Adili's "own label" collection. John East & Partners Limited is the
Company's Nominated Adviser and Broker.
* At the Placing Price, Adili's market capitalisation is approx. �4.46
million.
* Adili was launched in September 2007 as an online shop for ethical fashion
(www.adili.com). The Company sources and offers fashionable and stylish
clothes and accessories for men, women and children from a range of ethical
brands.
* Adili is advised on ethical issues by Clare Lissaman, the highly regarded
independent consultant on ethical trading, fair trade and corporate social
responsibility.
* The Company is establishing a charity, the Adili Foundation, whose objects
will include the betterment of social and environmental causes in
connection with the fashion and clothing industry. 955,000 Ordinary Shares,
worth approximately �167,000 at the Placing Price, will be issued to the
Foundation for cash at par.
* The business was established by three of its directors: Quentin Griffiths
(Non-Executive Director), co-founder of ASOS plc; Adam Smith (Chief
Executive), who has worked in the retail sector for 15 years; and
Christopher Powles (Finance Director), who has a strong financial and
environmental background.
* Sim Scavazza, previously brand director at Miss Selfridge, is Creative
Director, having joined the Board in February 2007.
* The market for ethical products, such as humane cosmetics and eco-fashion,
was worth approximately �1.5 billion in 2006, with sales in the "ethical
clothing" sector up 79 per cent. to �52 million.*
Adam Smith, Chief Executive Officer, commented,
"We set up the business in order to bring stylish and fashionable clothes,which
havebeen ethically produced,to as wide an audience as possible and joining AIM
represents an important step for the business,as we seek to establish Adili as
'the place' to shop for ethical fashion.
Our next step is the launch of our 'own label' collection and the funds raised will
partly be used for this. We view the period ahead with great enthusiasm."
* according to the Cooperative Bank's Ethical Consumerism Report 2007
Enquiries:
Adili plc Adam Smith, Chief Executive Officer T: 01258 837 437
Chris Powles, Finance Director
Biddicks Katie Tzouliadis/Sophie Lane T: 020 7448 1000
John East & Partners John East/David Worlidge T: 020 7628 2200
Limited
PLACING STATISTICS
Placing Price 17.5p
Number of Placing Shares 8,571,600
Number of Ordinary Shares at Admission 25,486,584
Percentage of Enlarged Issued Share Capital being placed 33.6 per cent.
Amount being raised under the Placing (before expenses) �1.5 million
Market Capitalisation on Placing Price �4.46 million
The Business
Adili, which means "ethical" and "just" in Swahili, was established in 2006
with the intention of becoming a destination shop online for ethical fashion by
exploiting the growth in the ethical fashion sub-sector of the apparels
industry and the expansion in online retailing. Adili's approach is to source
and offer a collection from the array of ethical brands available, rather than
to be a single brand business. The Directors intend that the collection should
be fashionable and stylish as well as ethical and offer good value for money.
Since the launch of the Company's website (www.adili.com) in September 2006,
the business has been established and the market for its products tested.
The business was established by Adam Smith, Christopher Powles and Quentin
Griffiths. Adam Smith is an experienced e-commerce manager with a strong
interest in supply chain ethical issues and development economics. Quentin
Griffiths has been instrumental in two other online fashion businesses which
are admitted to trading on AIM, including ASOS plc, which was admitted in
October 2001 and whose market capitalisation, as at 30 November 2007, was over
�131 million. Christopher Powles has a financial background, was born in Africa
and has had a lifelong interest in the environment and developing world.
More recently, Sim Scavazza, who has spent 18 years as a fashion buyer and
brand director for some of the UK's most successful clothing retailers, joined
the board as a non-executive director on 22 February 2007 and became Creative
Director on 1 October 2007.
The Company is advised on ethical issues by Clare Lissaman, who is also a
founding shareholder of Adili. Clare is a highly experienced ethical trading
consultant and was previously UK director of RUGMARK which works to end child
exploitation in south Asia's rug industry. She has worked with the Fairtrade
Foundation where she was involved in their diversification into cotton
certification and continues to advise a range of corporate and NGO clients.
The Company has analysed its customer base and determined that, compared with
the national average, its customers proportionately are significantly over
represented both in the 26 to 45 age range and in those with an income in
excess of �30,000. The Company is committed to delivering the best possible
level of customer service to help achieve a high level of repeat business.
In order to fund its development to date, the Group has raised approximately �
680,000 in a series of equity funding rounds between April 2006 and April 2007
and in October 2007, it issued �1,100,000 of Convertible Loan Stock.
Ethical Fashion
Ethical fashion falls into one or more of the following main categories:
* made from organically grown cotton, recycled materials or other
environmentally friendly alternatives such as hemp and bamboo; and/or
* produced using fair trade principles, typically by small community based
producer groups in developing world countries; and/or
* manufactured in factories that are not 'sweat shops' and comply with
international labour standards.
There are external certification standards for some of the above criteria, set
by bodies such as the Soil Association and FLO (Fairtrade Labelling
Organizations International). In the UK the Fairtrade Foundation licences the
use of the Fairtrade Mark.
There are other ethical criteria which can also be applied to fashion or
related products. These include no testing of products on animals, the donation
of some or all profits to charitable causes and utilising processes with a low
impact on the environment through local production or with good management of
industrial processes such as waste and water use.
Adili's policy is not to restrict itself just to a single ethical stance.
Instead, the Company's products are sourced in one or more of a variety of
ethical ways. An essential component of this is the criteria set out by Adili,
relating to the environment, fair trade and labour standards in each step of
the supply chain. For a product to be stocked by Adili it must meet certain
standards where the Company judges there to be an important social or
environmental issue. Alternatively, the supplier must be meeting progress
requirements set by Adili towards achieving such standards.
The product purchasing undertaken by Adili is critical to its ethical stance
and activities. An explanation of Adili's policies may be found on its website
(www.adili.com). The Company is developing its buying activity and these
policies in a number of ways to improve further its ethical standards.
Background
The strong growth in awareness amongst consumers of environmental issues and
world poverty has, over recent years, resulted in the expansion of the fair
trade and organic movements from food into clothing. The growth in the market
for these and other, often termed, "ethical" products and, in particular,
fashion is illustrated by the Cooperative Bank's Ethical Consumerism Report,
published in 2006. This shows that spending on personal products, such as
humane cosmetics and eco-fashion in 2006 amounted to approximately �1.5 billion
and sales in the sector defined as ethical clothing were up by 79 per cent. to
�52 million.
E-commerce is widely understood to be a continuing growth phenomenon and
according to the e-tailing industry body, IMRG, �42 billion will be spent
online by UK shoppers in 2007.
The Foundation
The Company intends to establish a charity in 2008, whose objects will include
the betterment of social and environmental causes in connection with the
fashion and clothing industry. The Company, pursuant to existing shareholder
authorities, intends to allot and issue 955,000 Ordinary Shares for cash at par
to the Foundation.
Current Trading and Prospects
Adili has been trading for approximately 15 months. With some seasonal
variations, growth in orders, unit sales and turnover has been consistently
strong and the Directors have been pleased by the progress the Company has
made.
In the longer term, the Directors believe that the funds raised from the round
of pre-IPO finance, together with the proceeds of the Placing, will allow the
Company to increase the range of products in its collection. They also believe
that the continued growth of internet retailing and the increasing awareness of
ethical consumerism in the UK should be key drivers in creating further future
growth, if current trading trends continue. For these reasons, the Directors
feel justified in looking to the future with cautious optimism.
Reasons for Admission and use of the Proceeds of the Placing
The net proceeds of the Placing are intended to be used primarily to fund
Adili's projected growth, the creation of an "own label" collection and to
provide general working capital.
The Directors believe that the Company will benefit from the higher profile
associated with being a publicly traded company and the ability to provide
incentives to senior staff by use of options over publicly traded shares.
Furthermore, the publicly traded company status and the additional balance
sheet strength resulting from the proceeds of the Placing will enhance Adili's
credibility and reputation within its target markets.
Directors
Alan Howarth (Non-executive Chairman), aged 62, has extensive business
experience in a range of national and international organisations. Early retail
management experience was gained with Bass plc followed by periods in Hewlett
Packard CO and John Swire & Sons Limited before spending nearly two decades at
Ernst & Young LLP as one of the founding partners of its Management Consulting
practice. During this time he led its divisions engaged in the retailing,
consumer products and technology sectors. As a Chartered IT Practitioner he has
been deeply involved over the years in retail technology. He is currently
non-executive chairman of the fully listed company, Gresham Computing plc, and
non-executive chairman and director respectively of Highams Systems Services
Group plc and Chamberlin plc, two AIM quoted companies. Furthermore, he has
several private sector interests both in the UK and internationally and has
strong associations with Central and Southern Africa and throughout the Far
East.
Adam Smith (Chief Executive Officer), aged 41, has specialised in e-commerce
for the last eight years and worked in the retail sector for the last 15 years,
while also setting up international supply chains. Most recently he was
director of operations and internet trading on the board of sit-up, a �238
million turnover direct response TV and e-commerce business. He worked there
from 2003 (shortly after it was formed) until it was sold at a valuation of �
194 million to Telewest. Previously he was at Dixons for over 10 years in a
variety of roles from customer services director to programme director -
e-commerce development. At the start of his career he qualified as a Chartered
Accountant at Arthur Andersen, working in the Corporate Finance Department. He
has a personal interest in development economics and significant empathy with
the ethical values that Adili represents.
Sim Scavazza (Creative Director), aged 41, has spent 18 years in fashion buying
for some of the UK's most well known clothing retailers. She joined Arcadia in
2000, as head of buying for Miss Selfridge, where she then progressed to brand
director. In November 2005 she was voted by Drapers Record as one of the most
influential people in UK fashion retailing. Before joining Arcadia, she was
head of buying at Bay Trading and senior buyer at NEXT, having started her
career with French Connection and River Island. She left Arcadia in 2006 to
pursue interests that reflect her personal ethical values. These activities
relate not only to fashion, but also include the chairmanship of the charity,
Mentor UK, which works towards the prevention of drug abuse in young adults.
Christopher Powles (Finance Director), aged 44, qualified as a Chartered
Accountant in what is now PwC's smaller companies division and, more recently,
in 1997 he founded and was managing director of Pi Capital which runs a leading
UK private investor club for unquoted companies. He built Pi to a client base
of 125 high net worth individuals and an investment portfolio of over �20
million until its sale in 2002. Prior to establishing Pi, he managed private
placings at Elderstreet, a venture capital firm, and was in the Bank of
Scotland's structured finance division. He is a non-executive director of the
fully listed company, Litho Supplies plc, and is a graduate in zoology from
Oxford University. He was born in Africa into a family heavily involved in
wildlife conservation and has taken part in environmental and humanitarian
activities since childhood.
Quentin Griffiths (Non-executive Director), aged 40, was co-founder, marketing
director and on the board of ASOS plc until 2004. ASOS, whose shares were
admitted to trading on AIM in October 2001, had a market capitalisation of over
�131 million as at 30 November 2007. Since leaving ASOS, Quentin has been
instrumental in the development of various other online retail businesses, in
particular EBTM plc which is also admitted to trading on AIM (and which had a
market capitalisation of over �12 million as at 30 November 2007). He also
co-founded YourSchoolUniform.com, in which an Otto group company has recently
taken a significant stake. Quentin started his career at Shandwick PR and moved
to the advertising agency TBWA where he was responsible for blue-chip product
placement campaigns.
DEFINITIONS
"Admission" the effective admission of the issued
and to be issued Ordinary Shares to
trading on AIM in accordance with the
AIM Rules
"AIM" the AIM market of the London Stock
Exchange
"Board" or "Directors" the directors of the Company whose
names are set out above
"Company" or "Adili" Adili plc, a company registered in
England and Wales with company number
6296226
"Convertible Loan Stock" the convertible loan stock issued by
the Company and having the rights
described in the Admission Document
"Enlarged Issued Share the 25,486,584 Ordinary Shares in
issue at Admission
Capital"
"Foundation" the Adili Foundation, a foundation
proposed to be established in 2008 as
a Charitable Incorporated Organisation
"Group" the Company and its subsidiary
undertakings from time to time
"JEP" John East & Partners Limited
"Ordinary Shares" ordinary shares of 1p per share in the
Company
"Placing" the conditional placing of the Placing
Shares at the Placing Price pursuant
to the Placing Agreement
"Placing Agreement" the conditional agreement dated 10
November 2007 between the Company, the
Directors and JEP as described in
Admission Document
"Placing Price" 17.5p per Placing Share
"Placing Shares" the 8,571,600 new Ordinary Shares to
be issued by the Company pursuant to
the Placing
"UK" the United Kingdom
END
END
Adili (LSE:ADIL)
Historical Stock Chart
From Jan 2025 to Feb 2025
Adili (LSE:ADIL)
Historical Stock Chart
From Feb 2024 to Feb 2025
