What Harry’s potential IPO could signify for the future of the brand

According to a report by Reuters on March 7, US-based consumer packaged goods (CPG) company Harry’s Inc has confidentially filed for an initial public offering (IPO) with the help of major investment banks, including Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan, Barclays, and Wells Fargo.The company launched its namesake men’s grooming brand in 2013 with a subscription-only online model and differentiated product offering. By making its five-blade razors in a legacy German razor factory, which the founders had purchased, the brand was able to sell its razors at a more accessible price point without compromising on quality. The brand made it easy for consumers to purchase its products, initially through its website and subscription service, and eventually through other online and brick-and-mortar retailers, including Target, Walmart, Costco, Wegmans, and more. Harry’s Inc continued to build upon its CPG portfolio with the launch of Flamingo, a women’s body care brand, Cat Person, a pet care brand, Headquarters, a haircare brand, and its acquired deodorant brand Lume.This diversification of brands reportedly helped Harry’s Inc to grow its profits by 47 per cent from 2020 to 2021 alone. In 2021, Harry’s Inc closed a $155 million Series E round of funding that gave the company a $1.7 billion valuation and over $650 million in total funding raised since the company’s launch. According to Reuters, citing the same sources who released the news about the IPO, Harry’s is on the brink of reaching $1 billion in annual sales and is currently highly profitable.Why now?According to global data and business intelligence platform Statista, the global beauty and personal care market is projected to generate a revenue of $646.2 billion in 2024, expanding at a compound annual growth rate of 3.33 per cent. In combination with the rapidly growing market and Harry Inc’s relatively rapid growth trajectory, it appears to be the optimal time for the brand to launch an IPO.As Neil Saunders, managing director and retail analyst at GlobalData, told Inside Retail, “Harry’s has become a very big brand in the personal care space and has been successful in profitably growing its sales line. It has now reached a level of maturity and stability where the next logical step is an IPO. This will allow investors to recoup their money with a strong return.”Besides launching an IPO, Saunders noted that Harry’s Inc “would have been to sell to one of the CPG giants but given the rejection of the Edgewell [Personal Care] bid on competition grounds a few years back, this route has probably been dismissed as too problematic and complex.”That bid saw American multinational CPG Edgewell Personal Care attempt to acquire Harry’s Inc for $1.37 billion in 2020. But the move was blocked by the Federal Trade Commission, which argued that the deal would reduce competition in the shaving market. With this in mind, Saunders believes that moving forward with an IPO is the most viable way for Harry’s Inc to expand. What are the risks post-IPO?IPOs are always a calculated risk in the retail industry and one that few brands, especially independently founded ones like Harry’s Inc, have been wanting to take in recent years.As Seeking Alpha, a website for actionable stock market opinion and analysis and financial discussion, reported on February 11, citing IPO statistics from investment research site Stock Analysis, the number of companies going public has drastically plunged in the last two years. In 2021, 1,035 companies went public then dropped down to 181 in 2022 and 154 in 2023.A prime example of an IPO gone awry would be Allbirds, a once-trendy footwear brand that went public in November 2021, raising more than $300 million in its IPO, but whose share price has since lost over 95 per cent of its original value.However, Saunders believes that Harry’s will be able to handle any possibly shaky ground ahead. As the retail expert explained, “The potential challenge of an IPO is ensuring that the offer price is optimal. The market for IPOs has been soft and there have been some disappointments over the past year or so. However, Harry’s is a strong business so might be able to bypass some of these issues.”As the CPG company moves forward, time will truly tell how Harry’s Inc will fare on the New York Stock Exchange and to what extent.