music magpie IPO

When is the Music Magpie IPO?

In April 2021, Music Magpie announced that it will list on London’s AIM market in an IPO that could value the business at £208 million. The company expects to raise £95 million for selling shareholders through the listing.

As part of the transaction, founder Steve Oliver will make £12.2 million from selling a portion of his existing 16.6% stake. The actual date of the listing is not yet known.

Interested in trading more upcoming flotations? Take a look at some of the other top IPOs for 2021.

How to trade Music Magpie shares

You will able to trade Music Magpie shares with City Index using spread bets or CFDs once it has completed its IPO and its shares begin publicly trading.

Follow these easy steps to start trading Music Magpie shares as soon as they go live:

• Open a City Index account, or log in if you’re already a customer.
• Search for ‘Music Magpie’ or ‘Entertainment Magpie’ in our award-winning platform
• Choose your position and size, and your stop and limit levels
• Place the trade

What is Music Magpie?

Music Magpie is a UK-based online reseller of second-hand consumer items such as mobile phones, video games and DVDs.  

Founded in Stockport in 2007, the company originally sold CDs out of Oliver’s garage. From there, it expanded to launch an app that allowed consumers to scan the barcodes of their unwanted goods, and get a price from the Music Magpie website to sell them on via its own store.

The company proceeded to launch on eBay and Amazon, where it became a major global seller. On eBay alone the company has received more than 12 million global feedback reviews as of 2021.

Today, the company employs around 1,000 people, has seen sales of some £153 million for the year to November 2020, and claims a 6 million-strong userbase.

How does Music Magpie make money?

As a ‘re-commerce’ operator, Music Magpie makes money by bulk buying used goods from the site’s users, determining a price via an algorithm that accounts for popularity and prices on competitor sites. The company then refurbishes and sells these items on individually for a profit via platforms such as eBay and Amazon.  

Most of the resale goods consists of consumer technology, with a portion of Music Magpie's business coming from disc media and a small percentage from books. Oliver told the Guardian that an estimated £16.5 billion worth of technology is sitting unused in the UK alone.

Is Music Magpie profitable?

Music Magpie is profitable as of its latest 2020 accounts, with the group Entertainment Magpie reporting profits of around £13 million on revenues of some £153 million.

The company’s margins are possible due to its ability to pay low prices for bulk quantities of items that owners are keen to get rid of quickly. DVDs are often bought by the company for mere pennies, but may end up being sold for as much as £2 each, while a CD can be bought for as little as 50p and sold for as much as £8.

The coronavirus pandemic saw the company enjoy a boost in revenues and profits in kind, as consumers sought to raise much-needed cash in a spiralling economy.

Who are Music Magpie’s competitors?

Music Magpie’s reseller competitors include CeX, WeBuyBooks, Ziffit, and GameXchange. Of course, users of resellers also have the option of selling their goods on eBay and Amazon, and in many cases would be able to get a better price this way, for example via eBay’s auction system.

However, users of Music Magpie and other resellers commonly have a large quantity of goods to shift, and being able to move it in volume is often more convenient than having to take the time to list items individually.

What is Music Magpie’s strategy?

A key part of Music Magpie’s strategy since its birth was to broaden its global sales reach, which it achieved when it became one of the most prolific sellers on eBay and Amazon. The company then expanded into the US in 2014 when it launched its subsidiary brand Decluttr, which operates out of Atlanta, Georgia.

A more recent strategy for the company was to move into smartphone recycling in a bid to reduce e-waste. Partnering with Asda and Co-op, Music Magpie introduced in-store kiosks in 2020 that allowed shoppers to get paid instantly by selling their unused phones onsite.  

Post IPO, the company also plans to develop its iPhone rental offering, where customers will be able to choose the phone they want, rent it for a monthly fee, and return it to Music Magpie for an upgrade when they have finished.

Who are the directors of Music Magpie?

Music Magpie has a number of key personnel that have helped progress the company to its expected IPO valuation. Here are some of them.

How much is Music Magpie worth?

As mentioned, Music Magpie could be worth some £208 million post IPO, but the current valuation is unclear beyond speculation based on its current financials. The most recent publicised major investment, from Manchester-based NVM Private Equity in 2015, was for an undisclosed sum, and in any case the company has developed its reach significantly since then. Many investors will be curious to find out the level of interest the company will attract for its IPO later in 2021.