Poland’s convenience store chain Zabka Group has announced plans for an initial public offering (IPO) and listing on the Warsaw Stock Exchange, the company’s main shareholder, the investment fund CVC, said on September 23. 

Details or the timeline for the offering were not disclosed other than the target will be international institutional investors and individual investors in Poland.

The offering could be worth between PLN4bn - PLN6bn (€780mn - €1.18bn), which would put the company’s overall valuation estimated at PLN30bn - PLN32bn, Bloomberg reported in June. 

“However, unofficial reports suggest the offering could be much larger, potentially reaching several billion, which would increase Zabka’s chances of quickly joining the [GPW’s blue-chip] WIG20 index,” the newspaper Puls Biznesu reported. 

“The IPO will allow selling shareholders to partially realise their investment in Zabka Group. Additionally, the management believes the IPO will provide improved access to domestic and international capital markets should there be a need to raise funds in the future, particularly for financing potential mergers and acquisitions,” CVC said in a statement.
 
Zabka's revenues grew 24% to PLN19.8bn in 2023, with like-for-like (LFL) sales increasing 10.8%. The group’s adjusted Ebitda rose 17% to PLN2.83bn.

In the first half of 2024, revenues increased 21.5% y/y to PLN11.1bn, with LFL sales up 10.3%. Adjusted Ebitda surged 33.5% to PLN1.4bn.

For the third quarter, Zabka expects LFL growth in the upper range of mid-single digits, partly due to a high base effect and favourable weather in Q3 2023. For the full year 2024, the company anticipates high single-digit LFL growth of 7.5%-9%.

Zabka’s goal is to improve its adjusted Ebitda margin, aiming for the upper end of the 12%-13% range in the medium term. The company also expects margin growth to accelerate in the short term, supported by stabilising energy prices and growing economies of scale.

In 2024, Zabka plans to open around 1,100 new stores, and in the medium term, it aims to open over 1,000 stores annually in Poland and Romania.