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IPO Watch: Tradie booking services Hipages lists on ASX; shares move slightly upward

Hipages listed on the ASX today (ASX:HPG)

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Tradie booking service Hipages (ASX:HPG) has become the ASX’s newest listing today.

The company’s centrepiece software platform connects tradies and consumers with a focus on home improvement jobs. Some 1.4 million jobs were posted to the platform in FY20.

It appears as a classified site to consumers, but it is transitioning to operate as a service tradies subscribe to in order to find jobs.

Additionally, the company has a job management platform (Call of Service) which streamlines and manages workflow and administrative tasks for tradies.

The largest shareholder is News Corp Australia which holds 25.7 per cent of the now listed company.

Hipages raised a total $100 million in the offer. Of this, $40 million was through new shares while the remainder came from a secondary share selldown – at $2.45 each.

Shares saw a modest boost at market open to $2.77 which is a 13 per cent rise.

Hipages (ASX:HPG) share price chart

 

Big day

Hipages says it will use proceeds to drive future growth through investment in the company’s brand and technology platform.

The company’s chair Chris Knoblance, who previously was a Citi executive, said listing was a big moment for his company.

“Today marks an important step in our evolution with Hipages positioned to take advantage of powerful digital and community trends that will drive increased demand for our innovative solutions,” he said.

Hipages says recent months have been positive having made $13 million in revenue in the first quarter of FY21. This is 17 per cent more than last year’s September quarter and revenues growth has continued in October.

It is forecasting $53.9 million in full year revenues – 15 per cent higher than FY20.

Hipages has benefited both from acceleration in the use of online platforms as well as bored consumers spending their time in lockdown working on home projects.

“We have had a strong start to the financial year as consumers continue the shift to online solutions and current environment drives demand for home improvement services,” said Hipages CEO and co-founder Roby Sharon-Zipser.

“As we continue our transition to a subscription only model, we are also benefiting from strong momentum in job numbers as both tradies and customers recognise the merits of our unique value proposition.”

Categories: IPO Watch

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