Low-Priced Teen Retailer Five Below Raises IPO Terms

Five Below, Inc. is set to have a larger initial public offering versus prior expectations.  The teen and youth $5 and under merchandise retailer is now planning to offer about 9.6 million shares. The new range is being put at an initial public offering price per share of between $15.00 and $17.00.  Its prior range had been set at $12 to $14 per share.  The company’s stock ticker at the IPO will be “FIVE” on the NASDAQ Global Select Market.

Five Below is offering 4,807,692 of the shares to be sold in the offering. The selling shareholders identified in this prospectus are offering an additional 4,807,692 shares. If the overallotment option is exercised in full then more than 11.05 million shares will have been sold in the public offering.

Book-runners in the offering are Goldman Sachs, Barclays, and Jefferies; co-managers are listed as Credit Suisse, Deutsche Bank Securities, UBS Investment Bank, and Wells Fargo Securities.

Five Below is a growing specialty value retailer targeting “the aspirational teen and pre-teen customer” with trendy merchandise all priced at $5 and below.  This is not quite a “dollar store” but it is close.

The chain was founded in 2002 by Executive Chairman David Schlessinger and by President and CEO Thomas Vellios.  As of April 28, 2012, Five Below operated a total of 199 locations across 17 states with each store averaging approximately 7,500 square feet.  The company plans to open approximately 50 stores in 2012 and its claim in the prospectus is that it can grow its store base to more than 2,000 locations over approximately 20 years.

The company further said that its comparable store sales increased by 12.1% in fiscal 2009, 15.6% in fiscal 2010 and 7.9% in fiscal 2011; it further noted that is has seen positive comparable store sales during each of the last 24 fiscal quarters. Between fiscal 2009 and 2011, net sales increased from $125.1 million to $297.1 million and over the same period the operating income increased from $6.9 million to $26.2 million.
JON C. OGG