DFS Furniture springs higher as shares begin unconditional trading

11th Mar 2015 09:47

Furniture retailer DFS Furniture shares rose as the company made its unconditional debut on the London Stock Exchange on Wednesday.The group issued 80.9m shares at 255p per share, with offer was priced at the lower end of its guidance of between 245p and 310p per share.DFS, which has 105 stores across the UK, Ireland and the Netherlands and is the largest sofa retailer in the UK with a 26% market share, saw its shares climb 2.1% to 260.25p in early trading.Last Friday's conditional trading debut on the market saw company valuation up to near the £585m mark, disappointing in light of previous expectations that the company could achieve a valuation of around £1bn.DFS will use the funds raised by the initial public offering to reduce debt.Jefferies, UBS and Numis were appointed to handle the IPO of the retailer, which is controlled by private equity firm Advent International.