Shares in luxury shoe maker Jimmy Choo surged by 8pc in morning trade after it unveiled plans to put itself up for sale.
The London-listed company - made famous as the brand of choice for Sex & The City character Carrie Bradshaw - is to conduct a review of "the various strategic options open to the company to maximise value for its shareholders", including a sale.
It has invited interested parties to make themselves known to its bankers, Bank of America Merrill Lynch or Citi.
"There can be no certainty that an offer will be made, nor as to the terms on which any offer will be made," the company added.
JAB Luxury GmbH, part of the investment arm of the billionaire Reimann family, owns 67pc of Jimmy Choo and declared itself supportive of the plan.
The fashion brand said it had not received any approaches to buy the company prior to making its announcement.
Shares rose 8pc to 182p in London, above its close price of 168p on Friday and giving the fashion brand a market value of £690m.
Jimmy Choo floated on the stock exchange in October 2014 at a price of 140p a share.
The company has faced challenging conditions in the luxury retail market since its initial public offering, with one broker describing 2015 as “a year to forget” for Jimmy Choo. But it rebounded in 2016, with its share price climbing back over the level at which it floated.
Revenues grew 14.5pc in the year ending December 31, 2016 to £364m, but pre-tax profits slumped 20pc to £17.7m, mainly to due a foreign exchange loss caused by the fall in sterling.
Jimmy Choo, which was founded in 1996, has in recent years branched out into high-end male footwear, a growing part of the market.
“Globally, retail sales of men’s designer footwear have grown marginally faster than women’s designer footwear over the last three years, so it is easy to see why Jimmy Choo has expanded into this male segment,” said Euromonitor.
Jimmy Choo has also been outpacingf its fashion rivals, the analyst added. “For now, everything seems to be going well – with the brand outperforming its rivals and bucking the trend in China.”
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