Cooks Coffee chain planning to list on London stock market

Britain’s fourth-largest coffee shop chain is drawing up plans to list on the London stock market, providing a bright spot amid an ongoing drought of new UK listings. 

Cooks Coffee, which owns the Esquires and Triple Two brands, has 72 branches in the UK. 

Float: Cooks Coffee, which owns the Esquires and Triple Two brands, has 72 branches in the UK

It also has 15 outlets in Ireland as well as franchise agreements in Portugal, the Middle East and south-east Asia. 

The New Zealand-based firm is listed on the stock market in Wellington but now plans to float on London’s Aquis exchange, a competitor to the LSE, in October. 

The company’s stock trades at around 0.42 New Zealand dollars, equivalent to 22p, giving it a market cap of around £11.7m. 

‘We see considerable opportunities for growth in the UK,’ said Cooks boss Keith Jackson. For the year to the end of March, the group posted a profit of £0.14m.