In June 2019 Wesfarmers purchased Catch Group – which owns the ecommerce site Catch.com.au – for $230 million. Now, analysts and fund managers have put Catch’s value at $1-1.5 billion.
“This business is worth much more than what it was acquired for and there remains a significant opportunity for further value creation,” JPMorgan Analyst Shaun Cousins told the Australian Financial Review.
Catch.com.au sells more than 2 million products online, across electronics, fashion, home and kitchen, pets, and grocery and liquor categories.
Cousins valued Catch at $1.23 billion. This is based on Catch’s gross transaction values increased by 68.7% in the first five months of the year, which built on the growth of 21.4% in the second half of 2019.
However, the analyst also noted a lack of disclosure about Catch’s earnings in Wesfarmers previous reports.
Looking ahead, Cousins forecasts Catch’s sales to expand by 18% over the year as a whole to total approximately $828 million. By 2022 he expects this figure to reach $910 million. “However, if the shift to online shopping continues at a similar pace these estimates could be conservative,” the Australian Financial Review wrote.
