Experienced online eyewear executive Roger Hardy has steered his new company, KITS Eyecare Ltd. to a $55-million initial public offering on the Toronto Stock Exchange.
Hardy, chairman and CEO of KITS, founded Clearly Contacts in the early 2000s and expanded the company substantially before selling it to French eyewear giant Essilor for $430 million in 2014. At the end, Hardy and other family members owned about 20% of the venture.
Hardy then bought various online shoe-selling assets and created Shoes.com, which went into receivership in February 2017.
He returned to the eyewear sector in 2019 by buying Richmond-based LD Vision for an undisclosed amount, and he separately bought a minority stake in the sunglasses retailer Privé Reveau, which Safilo acquired in February.
KITS issued 6,470,588 common shares at $8.50 each, and those shares are now trading under the ticker symbol KITS. In late-morning trading Vancouver time, the shares were trading at $9.39.
"Completing this IPO is a significant milestone for KITS and a testament to the hard work of our entire team," Hardy said. "We were encouraged by the strong response to our IPO which is a validation of our platform and strategy and allowed us to upsize our offering. The proceeds raised from this listing place us in a strong financial position for growth and success as we continue to disrupt the fragmented and underserved eyecare market."
Other key executives at KITS includes Sabrina Liak and Joseph Thompson. Liak brings more than a decade of experience with Goldman Sachs to her role overseeing financial operations at KITS, while Thompson, previously with Procter & Gamble and Amazon.com Inc., oversees KITS' day to day operations.
