Hotter Shoes' private equity owner is to rebrand and expand beyond footwear when it demerges from TGI Fridays and floats on AIM in the coming months.
The Skelmersdale company was first lined up for an IPO by Electra Private Equity earlier this year and the move is expected to be completed during the fourth quarter.
In an update to the London Stock Exchange, Electra confirmed plans to rebrand itself to Unbound Group plc when it moves to AIM as the parent company of Hotter Shoes "late this calendar year".
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It also revealed Unbound's "expanded offering beyond footwear will feature apparel and wellness brands alongside third party complementary brands".
Unbound will be the parent company of Hotter and "the foundation of a fast growing e-commerce business serving and enhancing the lifestyles, health and wellbeing of our targeted customer community".
It added that it anticipates Unbound will offer its first products beyond footwear during the first half of 2022.
Electra's hospitality brands will also be demerged to a new parent company, Hostmore plc.
In a statement to the London Stock Exchange, Electra said that in the first six months of its financial year to January 2022 Hotter's UK direct to consumer sales have grown 39% compared to the same period in 2020.
Also over the same time, its overall sales growth has been 25% while its gross margin was 63%, up from 53%.
Hotter has also announced the appointment of Dan Lampard as its new chief financial officer from August 30. He has most recently been CFO of Glanbia Performance Nutritions.
Ian Watson, chief executive of Hotter, said: "We are delighted with the progress we are making and welcome Dan to our team at this important time for the business.
"His track record of success in on-line, direct-to-consumer retail businesses will help drive our transformation as we work towards our listing on AIM and focus on delivering growth across our platform."
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Neil Johnson, chair of Electra, added: "It is an absolute priority for the Electra board that, having already successfully delivered significant value for shareholders in our realisation strategy, the value realised for our final two investments should also exceed expectations.
"Whilst we can't determine the value that the market will ascribe to Hostmore and Unbound, what we can say is that we are delighted to be planning for both companies to embark on their separate journeys as independent listed companies with the management, strategy and financial position to deliver real value growth in both the short and longer terms.
"Both businesses have the opportunity to become leaders in their chosen markets and we have every confidence that the management teams that are in place can deliver their plans - and with them significant shareholder value."
