Neiman Marcus Files for an IPO—Again

After being taken private a decade ago, luxury retailer Neiman Marcus filed for a $100 million IPO on Aug. 4, marking the second time it’s tried to go public in two years. 

Its prospectus reveals that jewelry comprised 11 percent of its revenues in 2014, about even with past years. The company recorded $4.8 billion in revenues in the last fiscal year, 24 percent of which were transacted online. Even so, it recorded a $147.2 million loss for the year ended Aug. 2, 2014, but a $47.8 million profit for the 39 weeks ended May 2, 2015.

As of May 2, it held $452.1 million in consigned inventory, which is primarily jewelry. 

The company is composed of 43 Neiman Marcus stores, 38 off-price Last Call stores, two Bergdorf Goodman stores, those brands’ online divisions, and German e-tailer MyTheresa.com. The latter site, which it acquired in October, primarily services customers in Europe, Asia, and the Middle East.

Texas Pacific Group and Warburg Pincus first took the company private in 2006. In June 2013, it filed for an IPO but ended up purchased later that year by two more investment companies, Ares Management and Canada Pension Plan Investment Board, for $6 billion.

Funds raised by the IPO will service its $4.7 billion total debt, mostly taken on during those acquisitions.

At least one veteran luxury observer warned the market to be wary, given that its owners are filing to go public two years after they bought it. 

“My guess is Neiman Marcus owners want to get out while the getting is good,” Unity Marketing president Pam Danziger said in a statement. 

Danziger, who had forecast a “luxury drought,” added that many affluent consumers “feel middle-class, hardly luxury class, which is one reason that the off-price Neiman Marcus Last Call stores are reputedly contributing more than their fair share of growth for the company.” 

The prospectus also says:

–  It has achieved 22 consecutive quarters of positive comps, with an average quarterly increase of more than 6 percent. 

– Stores located in California, Florida, New York, and Texas accounted for 50 percent of its revenue in 2014. 

– The average customer age is 51, though about half its customers skew 50 or younger.

– Approximately 38 percent of its customers claim a median household income of more than $200,000, and more than 40 percent of its customers have a total household net worth greater than $1 million.

– Members of Neiman’s InCircle loyalty program members generated approximately 40 percent of total revenues in fiscal year 2014. Those customers spent approximately 11 times more annually with Neiman than other customers.

– According to Wealth-X, approximately 70 percent of ultrahigh net worth individuals in the United States reside within 50 miles of a Neiman Marcus or Bergdorf Goodman store.

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JCK News Director

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