Bahrain’s top retail house, Jawad Business Group (JBG), took an unusual step by launching an IPO to offer approximately 40 per cent of its fashion business to the general public.

With the IPO, described as the first of its kind in the region, JBG will hold 51 per cent of the ownership of Jawad International Fashion (JIF). The remainder 9 per cent of the shares will be with Khaleej Fashion Franchises  (formed in 2005 by KFI as a closed Bahrain shareholding company).
The fashion business is the biggest of five divisions of JBG, the others being distribution, supermarkets, restaurants and Costa Coffee and accounts for 53 per cent of the turnover, according to JBG chairman and CEO Faisal H Jawad.
Next in importance is distribution, accounting for 23 per cent, followed by supermarkets 11 per cent, restaurants 9 per cent and Costa Coffee 4 per cent. Top brands in restaurants are Dairy Queen, Burger King, DeliFrance, Magic Wok and Caesar’s Pizza.  The restaurants and fashion outlets operate in several countries in the region. Jawad Business Group incorporated JIF in mid-2003 to operate several international fashion brands including BHS, Mango, Adams, Shoe City, and Hush Puppies throughout the GCC region.  The fashion division currently operates 107 outlets in the region, of which 48 are covered by the IPO.
Jawad’s Costa Coffee business is considered separate from its main restaurant line. Of 48 Costa Coffee houses, 24 are in Bahrain. Another important business is the 50:50 logistics joint venture with Kuwait’s Public Warehousing Company (PWC).
“The logistics centre is doing great. What we’re trying to do is provide a complete logistics service not just a warehouse,” said Jawad. “We stock, deliver and look after the stock. PWC Bahrain has different kinds of customers including ones operating in the fashion and military centres. Our customers include logistics companies that run of out space.”
The joint venture took shape in 2002 after a fire that destroyed JBG’s warehouse. “We built the joint venture as a reflection of our needs and also to introduce logistics services to the rest of Bahrain. We developed it like our going concern and Jawad is a customer to PWC Bahrain,” said Jawad.
In the Jawad International Fashion IPO, 10 million shares with a share price of BD1.1 and a nominal value of BD0.100 were available to the general public. The offering was launched on December 19 and scheduled for closing on January 8, ahead of the company listing on the Bahrain Stock Exchange (BSE).  A subscription of 100 to 100,000 was allowed for individuals and 5,000 to 100,000 for institutional investors.
 “This IPO represents a major step with both franchising and retail in the GCC. We are eager to open up JIF stock ownership to the public and look forward to further expansion in the region. In line with our corporate strategy, we will work through organic growth to generate returns for our investors,” said Jawad.
“As the first retail company in the region offering its shares to the public, it is our hope that we will set the benchmarks for others to follow,” he added.
Receiving banks selected for the JIF IPO are Ahli United Bank, Bahrain Islamic Bank, and Standard Chartered.
The performance of JIF is well above the service sector average of the Bahrain Stock Exchange and it is JBG’s vision to further develop the business units of JIF so as to deliver consistent value to its shareholders. It is also the stated policy of JIF to distribute 75 per cent of the net profits every year by way of dividends.
Based on the information provided by Jawad, JIF’s strategy revolves around operating the brands in all major malls including Mall of the Emirates, Marina Mall-Abu-Dhabi, Bahrain City Centre, Villagio-Qatar, Festival City-Dubai, Mall of Arabia-Dubai, and Khalidiya Mall, Abu-Dhabi to name a few.