Hot on the heels of its strong Christmas trading update, news has emerged that performance and athleisure brand Castore could be mulling a stock exchange listing.

The company has become a major player in the sports and sports-influenced clothing market in just a few short years and an IPO would underline its status as it increasingly competes with major names like Nike and Adidas.

The Times reported Thursday that Castore’s sibling founders Tom and Phil Beaton would consider floating its shares.

“I very much focus my time and energy on building the best brand and business that I can because if we do that there’ll hopefully be some exciting options for us from a capital event — an IPO is one of those options,” said Tom Beahon, who’s co-CEO with his brother.

But it doesn’t look like it will happen just yet (if at all) with Beahon adding: “As a proud British entrepreneur I would love to be able to IPO the business in London but there’s nothing on the immediate cards on that front.”

UK companies haven’t always had a good experience of listing on the stock exchange and can be punished severely by shareholders if they underperform.

A stock exchange listing isn’t to be taken lightly. Apart from the costs involved, it means company problems play out in the full glare of regulatory publicity. There’s a recent history of names such as Superdry, Ted Baker, Quiz, In The Style and more de-listing as their performances declined. And others that remain listed — such as Dr Martens, Burberry, Mulberry, M&S, Frasers Group, THG and JD Sports — can see share prices soaring but have also seen their prices dropping sharply if their sales and profit figures disappoint investors.

But for now, Castore is far from disappointing. The company saw a 16% increase in festive season sales, helped by its various sports team link-ups and also by more women than ever buying into its offer.

The brand was founded only 10 years ago and counts New Look founder Tom Singh and tennis star Andy Murray among its investors.

It has benefited from consumers seeking something different from the big-name sports brands with Beahon saying that “more nascent challenger brands [like On and Hoka] have come into the market. Castore is in that cohort, Gymshark is in that cohort and customers are willing to try new brands that are not the Nike swoosh or the Adidas three-stripe”.

Castore has its own stores but the majority of its revenues are online, although this balance could shift as it opens more physical spaces.

As well as saying it will open between five and 10 stores this year, Beahon said “we will be announcing a number of very large … flagship partnerships this year, both in the UK and internationally. We do see international growth as key to the next stage of Castore’s growth as a business”.