Cake Box shares admitted to AIM

Shares in Cake Box, the retailer with a growing franchise store base across the UK, shares began trading on the Alternative Investment Market of the London Stock Exchange on Wednesday.

A share offer run by Shore Capital was "heavily oversubscribed", the company said, with £16.5m of funds raised for the vendors.

The newly-listed firm has seen its franchise estate grow rapidly in recent years, up from the 20 stores it operated in 2013 to 91 franchise stores as of 13 June, and is eyeing to expand to as many as 250 franchise stores in the UK after identifying a number of locations where the group believes there is "significant opportunity" for a Cake Box store.

Cake Box has experienced strong financial growth, more than doubling its revenue and EBITDA in the past two financial years. Revenue increased 128% to £12.8m in the year ended 31 March and EBITDA jumped 62% to £3.7m.

Sukh Chamdal, chief executive officer or Cake Box, said, "Our IPO is the latest phase of an exciting journey for Cake Box and I am delighted with the very strong reception we have received."

"Looking ahead, we are confident that we have all the ingredients to continue to grow our franchise estate to 250 stores and further expand our slice of the sizeable UK cake market, with a unique customer proposition and limited direct competition," Chamdal added.

As of 1010 BST, Cake Box shares, which will trade under the ticker symbol CBOX, were trading at 125.5p.