Kid ASA

Report Publication Announcement • Oct 5, 2015

Kid has applied for a listing on the Oslo Stock Exchange

Kid has applied for a listing on the Oslo Stock Exchange

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Kid has applied for a listing on the Oslo Stock Exchange

Lier, 5th October 2015: Kid ASA ("Kid" or the "Company")

today announces its intention to launch an Initial Public

Offering (the "IPO") of its ordinary shares, and has

applied for a listing on the Oslo Stock Exchange.

Kid is the leading and most profitable retailer in the

Norwegian home textile market, typified by products like

duvets, pillows, curtains, bed linens and other

accessories and decorating items. As of 30 June 2015, Kid

operated a total of 128 wholly-owned stores in Norway, in

addition to an established e-commerce platform. Kid

traces its history back to 1937, and has since the 1950s

renewed Norwegian homes by offering attractive and

practical curtains, bed linens and other interior

articles. Kid is among the best known brands within

retail in Norway, with 97% of Norwegian women being

familiar with the Company(1).

In 2014, Kid had a market share of 31% among the

Norwegian pure-play home textile retailers, making it the

largest player in the market in terms of revenue. From

2012 to 2014, the Company was the fastest growing by

revenue of the Norwegian home textile retail chains, with

a CAGR in operating revenue of 11%, relative to the

market growth of 2%, taking its market share from 26% to

31% in the period.

Kid's key strength is its highly enthusiastic and

competent employees, and the Company has a fully

integrated value chain from the design phase, until the

products are displayed and sold in stores across the

country. Accordingly, the Company has an in-house design

team that ensures all products are tailored to the Kid

concept. Furthermore, direct sourcing ensures that the

Company has full control over the price and quality of

its products, and its employees in the stores across the

country are inspired by the unified Kid culture and work

towards delivering outstanding service to the customers.

Since Gjelsten Holding bought 100% of Kid in 2012 the

company has had a positive and profitable development,

having increased revenue from NOK 928 million in 2012 to

NOK 1,136 million in 2014, and EBIT from NOK 115 million

in 2012 to NOK 164 million in 2014, corresponding to an

EBIT margin of 14.5% in 2014. KID has the last three

years worked purposefully and structured to develop and

renew the assortment, store portfolio and expertise among

the staff, and there has been significant investment in

upgrading the stores. This has resulted in Kid today

having a position as an attractive brand towards

consumers, with stores with a distinctive profile and

warmth. The Company has a solid financial footing with

the industry's best earnings and cash flow.

Company highlights

-A star performer within the Norwegian home and interior

market, focused on an attractive market niche

-Strong home textile retail concept with high brand

recognition in the Norwegian market

-Fully integrated value chain with control over all

critical aspects of the business, from in-house design,

to direct sourcing, efficient logistics and store

operations

-Seasoned and proven management team supported by a high

quality organisation, and with a strong company culture

-Powerful marketing driven by an in-house

marketing team, ensuring well-coordinated communication

and brand consistency that has resulted in high customer

awareness and loyalty

-Established e-commerce platform with the opportunity to

expand its online presence in a true multichannel manner,

and become the online leader in Norwegian home textiles

-Operational excellence leading to strong financial

performance, with industry leading margins and cash flow

Kjersti Hobøl, CEO of Kid commented:

"I am proud of having been part of the Kid team over the

last five years, where our employees have refocused the

chain and renewed the store portfolio, all with the goal

of delivering a strong value proposition and helping our

customers to create beautiful homes. The Company has

delivered strong growth in both revenue and profitability

over the last years, and I am confident that we have many

exciting opportunities to improve even further in the

future. We look forward to offering both new shareholders

and our employees the opportunity to invest in our

Company and to help us continue to improve and grow Kid

in the coming years".

Bjørn Rune Gjelsten, Owner and Chairman of Gjelsten

Holding commented:

"Gjelsten Holding has been a proud and dedicated owner of

Kid over the past three years, and it pleases me to see

that we in Gjelsten Holding, in collaboration with the

Company's talented employees, have succeeded in

developing the Company both in terms of sales and

profitability. I am convinced that Kid has potential for

further profitable growth in Norway and Gjelsten Holding

will therefore remain a significant shareholder following

an IPO".

Financial highlights

Kid delivered the Company's strongest result in 2014, and

continued the trend of growth and profitability, reaching

NOK 1,136 million in revenues driven by 6.1% like-for-

like growth and 11 net new store openings in 2014,

contributing to 11% revenue CAGR since 2012. The like-

for-like growth has been driven by a healthy mix of

underlying sales growth as well as effects from

refurbishments and relocations. Growth in profitability

was even stronger, with EBIT reaching NOK 164 million,

representing an increase in EBIT margin from 12.4% in

2012 to 14.5% in 2014 and an EBIT CAGR of 20% in the

period. So far in 2015 the Company has been affected by

negative exchange rate fluctuations, as approx. 90% of

its products are sourced in USD. The strengthening of the

USD against the NOK has affected the Company's gross

margins in the first 9 months of 2015. Unfavourable

weather conditions during, with cold spring and summer

months and a warm August, have also affected revenue

development negatively. However, the company has so far

in 2015 increased its market share compared to the market

for pure home textile players in Norway. The Company has

a positive outlook for the remainder of the year, which

also is the most important in terms of generating

profits.

Offering highlights

Through an IPO, the Company will secure access to the

capital markets, which will contribute to realizing the

Company's future growth ambitions. Moreover, an IPO will

also enable employees to become shareholders in the

Company and take part in future value creation.

The IPO will comprise a public offering to institutional

and retail investors in Norway and a private placement to

certain institutional investors internationally, where

the current majority owner in the Company, Gjelsten

Holding, will reduce its ownership in the Company.

ABG Sundal Collier ASA and Arctic Securities AS are

acting as Joint Bookrunners in the IPO.

Further announcements relating to the process will be

made in due course.

Enquiries

Kjersti Hobøl, CEO Kid, +47 918 35 965

Petter Schouw-Hansen, CFO Kid, +47 482 24 534

About Kid ASA

Kid is the leading and most profitable retailer in the

Norwegian home textile market, typified by products like

duvets, pillows, curtains, bed linens and other

accessories and decorating items. As of 30 June 2015, Kid

operated a total of 128 wholly-owned stores in Norway, in

addition to an established e-commerce platform. Kid

traces its history back to 1937, and has since the 1950s

renewed Norwegian homes by offering attractive and

practical curtains, bed linens and other interior

articles. Kid is among the best on creating value through

active ownership known brands within retail in Norway,

with 97% of Norwegian women being familiar with the

Company . Kid has approximately 900 employees with

headquarters in new modern facilities in Lier, Norway.

Kid is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Gjelsten Holding. For

more information visit www.kid.no

About Gjelsten Holding AS

Gjelsten Holding is an investment company with a goal of

creating sustainable value through active ownership. The

company has investments in real estate, retail and the

industrial sector through portfolio companies such as

Fabritius, Profier, Kid, Sport1 Gruppen, Norsk

Avfallshåndtering (NOAH) and Ultimovacs. Gjelsten Holding

was established in 2000 and had in 2014 annual revenues

of NOK 2.6 bn and approximately 1,100 employees. Gjelsten

Holding is wholly owned by Bjørn Rune Gjelsten. For more

information visit www.gjelsten.no

Important Notice

This announcement is not and does not form a part of any

offer to sell, or a solicitation of an offer to purchase,

any securities of the Company.

Copies of this announcement are not being made and may

not be distributed or sent into the United States,

Australia, Hong Kong, Canada, Japan or any other

jurisdiction in which such distribution would be unlawful

or would require registration or other measures.

The securities referred to in this announcement have not

been and will not be registered under the U.S. Securities

Act of 1933, as amended (the "Securities Act"), and

accordingly may not be offered or sold in the United

States absent registration or an applicable exemption

from the registration requirements of the Securities Act

and in accordance with applicable U.S. state securities

laws. The Company does not intend to register any part of

the offering in the United States or to conduct a public

offering of securities in the United States. Any sale in

the United States of the securities mentioned in this

announcement will be made solely to "qualified

institutional buyers" as defined in Rule 144A under the

Securities Act.

Any offering of the securities referred to in this

announcement will be made by means of a prospectus. This

announcement is not a prospectus for the purposes of

Directive 2003/71/EC (as amended, together with any

applicable implementing measures in any Member State, the

"Prospectus Directive"). Investors should not subscribe

for any securities referred to in this announcement

except on the basis of information contained in a

prospectus.

In any EEA Member State that has implemented the

Prospectus Directive, this communication is only

addressed to and is only directed at qualified investors

in that Member State within the meaning of the Prospectus

Directive.

This communication is only being distributed to and is

only directed at persons in the United Kingdom that are

(i) investment professionals falling within Article 19(5)

of the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000 (Financial

Promotion) Order 2005, as amended (the "Order") or (ii)

high net worth entities, and other persons to whom this

announcement may lawfully be communicated, falling within

Article 49(2)(a) to (d) of the Order (all such persons

together being referred to as "relevant persons"). This

communication must not be acted on or relied on by

persons who are not relevant persons. Any investment or

investment activity to which this communication relates

is available only for relevant persons and will be

engaged in only with relevant persons. Persons

distributing this communication must satisfy themselves

that it is lawful to do so.

Matters discussed in this announcement may constitute

forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements

are statements that are not historical facts and may be

identified by words such as "believe", "expect",

"anticipate", "strategy", "intends", "estimate", "will",

"may", "continue", "should" and similar expressions. The

forward-looking statements in this release are based upon

various assumptions, many of which are based, in turn,

upon further assumptions. Although the Company believes

that these assumptions were reasonable when made, these

assumptions are inherently subject to significant known

and unknown risks, uncertainties, contingencies and other

important factors which are difficult or impossible to

predict and are beyond its control. Actual events may

differ significantly from any anticipated development due

to a number of factors, including without limitation,

changes in public sector investment levels, changes in

the general economic, political and market conditions in

the Norwegian market, the Company's ability to attract,

retain and motivate qualified personnel, changes in the

Company's ability to engage in commercially acceptable

acquisitions and strategic investments, and changes in

laws and regulation and the potential impact of legal

proceedings and actions. Such risks, uncertainties,

contingencies and other important factors could cause

actual events to differ materially from the expectations

expressed or implied in this release by such forward-

looking statements. The Company does not guarantee that

the assumptions underlying the forward-looking statements

in this presentation are free from errors nor does it

accept any responsibility for the future accuracy of the

opinions expressed in this presentation or any obligation

to update or revise the statements in this presentation

to reflect subsequent events. You should not place undue

reliance on the forward-looking statements in this

document.

The information, opinions and forward-looking statements

contained in this announcement speak only as at its date,

and are subject to change without notice. The Company

does not undertake any obligation to review, update,

confirm, or to release publicly any revisions to any

forward-looking statements to reflect events that occur

or circumstances that arise in relation to the content of

this announcement.

(1)Opinion brand research March 2015, among women aged

20+