German onnline fashion retailer Zalando Plans IPO for 2014

After months of speculation, Zalando has announced today its plan to list on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange this year. The Berlin-based fashion retailer intends to offer newly issued shares, as the company focuses on reaching profitable growth.

Zalando says it plans on offering 10 percent to 11 percent of total post-IPO capitalization. The five major shareholders in the company will retain their shares. Zalando’s investors include Investment AB Kinnevik (36 percent), Global Founders (17 percent), Anders Holch Povlsen (10 percent), DST Europe (8 percent) and Holtzbrinck Ventures (8 percent).

Founded six years ago, the retail giant announced that it broke even in the first half of this year with the DACH region performing particularly well. Last week, Zalando announced the German-speaking regions of Europe to be profitable with second-quarter revenue growing by 21.2 percent on the year to €594 million ($781 million).

To this, Rubin Ritter, member of the management board of Zalando, says, “Reaching break-even in the first half of 2014 is an important milestone, proving once more the attractiveness of our business model; Listing our shares on the stock market is the logical next step in Zalando’s evolution…”

The potential that Zalando sees to spur profitability include reducing fulfillment and marketing costs. In terms of marketing, the company plans to focus on growing its active customer basis and using its strong brand name to acquire new customers. Zalando claims 88 percent aided brand awareness in the markets it launched in before 2012.

This story originally appeared on VentureVillage. Copyright 2014