Koala cofounder Dany Milham is more than $7.5 million richer on paper after his company made its ASX debut today.
In a sawtooth day of opening day of trade in Koala (ASX:KOA) shares, they climbed as high as $3.88 on the IPO price of $3.40 before finishing the day up 11.76% at $3.80, giving the business a market cap of more than $380 million.
The rise means the value of Milham’s holding of nearly 21% of the company increased from $63 million to $71m although his shares are escrowed and can’t be sold for two years.
His cofounder Mitch Taylor, holds 15.89 million shares, now worth $60m.
Cricketer Steve Smith, who invested $100,000 in the startup’s Seed round in 2015, and is the online retailer’s 8th largest shareholder, with more than 3.49 million shares, worth $11.89m. He saw their value increase by $1.4m to $13.29m on Koala’s opening day of trade.
Koala also banked $20 million in new capital at $3.40 per share as part of its IPO, with just over half of those funds used to retire debt. Another $48.1m worth of existing shares changed hands as part of the listing.
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Koala began in Byron Bay with a single mattress product, and now sells including sitting, bedroom, living, outdoor furniture and homewares in four countries: Australia, Japan, the US and since September last year, the UK.
The business was planning to go public last year but postponed its ASX listing amid the global uncertainty US president Donald Trump’s tariff war created.
Koala’s prospectus forecasts total revenue hitting $332m, up 20% on FY2025, with Australian sales representing around half that figure at $166.5m, up 10.5% in 12 months.
The FY26 forecast EBITDA is $24.8 million, up 112.2% ($11.7m), with the EBITDA margin anticipated to improve to 7.5%. The business has a gross margin above 60%.
Koala Group’s pro forma cash flow is forecast to grow from $29.9m in FY25, to $27.7m in FY26.
The statutory NPAT loss of $4.6m in FY25, if forecast to turn around by $10.3m this financial year to a $5.7m profit.
Koala chair Michael Gordon noted that aren’t many other companies listing around the globe at present.
“Finding a way to list a business during such a period of global uncertainty is pure testament to the brand Dany and the team have built and the obvious opportunity Koala has in front of it,” he said.
“Koala is well positioned to scale across its established and newer markets, supported by a differentiated brand, strong product innovation and a capital-light model.”
