Potbelly Corp shares more than doubled on debut

Potbelly Corp shares more than doubled on debutThe shares of restaurant chain Potbelly more than doubled in its Initial Public Offering on Friday as investors showed confidence in the market.

Potbelly, which operates around 300 sandwich shops in the United States, recorded an increase of around 130 per cent in the value of its shares their initial offering price of $14. The company had raised $105 million after increasing its IPO price to $14 a share, from a range of $12 to $13 per share. Data showed that the shares of the company were trading at $32 a share on Friday morning.

The company has been recording strong growth in the country both by expanding the number of stores and also adopting new measures to boost revenues. The chain said that the sale at stores recorded an increase during the
12 of the previous 13 quarters. Potbelly also said that it increased revenues by around 16 per cent to $274.9 million between 2011 and 2012.

Potbelly IPO amid a busy IPO season in the US and is among the IPOs that saw share prices double in the first few days, which had become very rare since the financial crisis crashed the IPO market in the country.