ghd looking good as profits double ahead of £420m sale
Hairstyling appliance brand ghd is looking good ahead of its £420m sale to NYSE-listed beauty products group Coty after doubling pre-tax profit and boosting revenues last year.
In its latest filing to Companies House for the year to June 30 2016, ghd’s parent Lion/Gloria Holdco reported pre-tax profit of £2.3m, up from £1.1m the year before, while revenues reached £178.2m, up from £167.4m.
In the report, ghd said it had “suffered unfavourable movements in virtually all its operating currencies versus the pound” following the EU referendum.
When the business was put up for sale last year it attracted plenty of interest, with the weakening of the Sterling since the referendum also helping make UK companies more attractive to overseas investors.
That October, Coty, which owns Wella and Clairol, agreed to acquire the Leeds-based company which was founded by a trio of businessmen who operated out of Ilkley in 2001.
Lion Capital bought GHD Hair Group, which has commercial operations in the UK, Australia, the United States, Germany, France, Spain, Italy and several other markets, in 2013 for a reported £300m from Montagu, which had nearly doubled its money in the six years it owned the business.
