Sosandar raises £7m through share sale

Sosandar, the AIM-listed online women's fashion brand, has raised £7m through a "significantly oversubscribed" share placement.

Both new and existing investors took advantage of the placement of new Ordinary Shares at a price of 15p per share. Shares closed today at 17.5p.

The placement came on the back of strong sales growth for the year ending 31 March during which sales were up 228% to £4.44m.

Sosandar intends to use the proceeds of the raise to supercharge its expansion plans, which include the possibility of selling the brand, which has found favour among style-conscious 30-plus women, on third-party websites. To take advantage of this opportunity it will need to invest in a greater depth of stock.

It will also seek new supplier relationships to reduce the risk of having to rely on supplier credit to fund future growth, and it plans to expand its product range and invest further in customer acquisition.

Ali Hall and Julie Lavington, Co-CEOs, commented: "We are very pleased to have successfully raised £7 million through a significantly oversubscribed placing, with both new and existing shareholders showing their support for the business and our growth plans. 

"Our strong financial performance and high level of repeat orders demonstrates the demand for our products and loyalty of our existing customer base. We have considerable momentum in the business which we are excited to build on going forward.

"Several opportunities are in the pipeline which will further improve the Sosandar shopping experience and build awareness of the brand to new customers. We look forward to updating all shareholders on our progress in due course."

The pair, who are former publishing executives from Look magazine, founded the business in in 2016 to fill a gap in the market for women who were looking for trend-led fashion but had outgrown sites such as Boohoo and ASOS. It launched on AIM in September 2017 after it was reversed into AIM-listed cash shell Orogen.