Britain’s largest luxury watch retailer began trading on the London Stock Exchange this morning, with shares priced at the upper end of the target range, giving Watches of Switzerland an opening market capitalisation of £647 million.
Shares in Watches of Switzerland, which had set a target between 250p and 277p, floated at 270p earlier.
“The process has clearly gone very well,” Brian Duffy, 64, its chief executive, said. “Today marks the next phase in our growth story. I am delighted by the reaction we have received from the market to our business and the significant opportunities that lie ahead. The first plan for the primary we’ve raised is to pay down debt, then we’ll pay off bonds raised over a year ago.”
