At Home, the home specialty retailer, has filed for an initial public offering with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

The offering will take place at $14 to $16 a share, “as soon as practicable” after the registration statement takes effect, according to the SEC filing. The retailer will use the proceeds, which it estimates at about $115.8 million, to retire debt under one of its lien facilities and “general corporate purposes,” including expansion, the filing said.

At Home currently operates 115 stores across 29 states and 65 markets, with the stores ranging in size from 80,000 to 200,000 square feet. “Over the long term, we believe we have the potential to expand to at least 600 stores in the United States,” the filing said.

Net sales for At Home for its fiscal year ending Jan. 29, 2016, totaled $622.2 million, an increase of 25 percent over the prior fiscal year. In addition, the company posted net income of $3.6 million in the most recent fiscal year, compared to a net loss of $436,000 for the previous fiscal year. Same-store sales have grown over the last nine consecutive fiscal quarters, averaging an increase of 5.6 percent in that time.

Along with expanding the store base, At Home plans to drive continued growth in same-store sales, through the ongoing introduction of “on-trend products to appeal to a wide range of customers and improve the mix of our assortment,” the filing said. It also plans to increase its brand awareness particularly through social and mobile channels. “We believe we have an opportunity to leverage our growing social media and online presence to drive brand excitement and increase store visits within existing and new markets,” the filing said.

At Home was founded as Garden Ridge in 1979 in Garden Ridge, Texas. It was acquired by a group of investors led by AEA Investors, and changed its name to At Home in 2015.

(Source: hfndigital.com  Author: David Gill)