Ultimate hungry for more as sales and profits rise
RETAIL supplier and importer Ultimate Products defied the tough market to grow turnover and profits last year.
Ultimate’s turnover in the year to the end of July rose from £53.8m to £59.1m, while EBITDA – the key measure for private equity backed businesses rose from £3.6m to £5.1m.
Accounts filed by the Oldham-based company, 46% owned by private equity outfit LDC, also reveal it bought the trade and stock of the housewares division of Rochdale company Martin Yaffe International in September for £1m.
The Yaffe deal was the second of the year for Ultimate, which in April bought Intempo Digital for £389,000.
Chief executive Simon Showman – said he was not able to discuss the Yaffe deal for contractual reasons – but predicted sales would rise to £70m next year.
He said: “We’re on the lookout for more acquisitions. The business is doing really well and the real growth story for us has been the US and also Hong Kong.
“Although UK sales were down last year, I’m expecting to see growth again this year due to more business with the major supermarket groups.”
He said Salford-based Intempo, the UK’s largest seller of iPod/MP3 products and accessories, DAB radios and wireless media, had been integrated into his business smoothly and was trading well. From January to April – before the acqusition – it made a loss of £320,000.
“Everyone has gelled really well and have been working flat-out,” Mr Showman enthused.
At the bottom line, after depreciation, goodwill and interest payments Ultimate made a loss of £575,000
The figures reveal that while Ultimate’s UK business – which supplies the likes of Tesco, Argos, Amazon, John Lewis and TJ Hughes – fell from £46m to £43m, the company saw impressive sales growth in Europe and the US.
In Europe sales rose fro £1m in 2008 to £7.7m, while in the US turnover rocketed from £346,000 to £5.4m.
In their report the directors said the business had: “performed satisfactorily given the general economic climate”, and is well placed to continue to trade in this manner despite the “challenging” market place.
Ultimate, which employs 190 people, was established by Mr Showman and business partner Barry Franks in 1997.
LDC invested in the business in 2005 and has overseen international expansion and the launch of a sourcing facility in Hong Kong two years ago.
