Casamia aims to double outlets by 2020

[THE INVESTOR] Casamia, South Korea’s furniture maker and decor studio, will morph into a high-growth firm by aggressively expanding its foothold and market share, the company’s CEO said on Aug. 4 ahead of its public offering planned for later this month.

“Through the stock market debut, Casamia will find a new growth engine. We will push to expand the number of stores to 150 by 2020 and enter the Chinese market,” said Lee Hyun-koo, CEO of Casamia at a press conference held in Seoul.

Currently, it runs 21 retail outlets and 46 sales agents in the country.

His expansion plan comes prior to IPO slated for Aug. 25 to raise some 100 billion won (US$89.76 million) by selling new shares in the price band between 20,000 won and 24,000 won per share.

“The fund will be mainly used to bolster distribution channels and brand awareness,” he said.

The furniture maker plans to make inroads into the Chinese market in November when the company launches an online shopping site for Chinese consumers.

By 2020, Casamia aims to shore up sales to 350 billion won from 120.4 billion won in 2015. It seeks a 270 percent surge of operating profit from 11.7 billion won to 44 billion won.

By Park Han-na (hnpark@heraldcorp.com)