Kiddicare sold by Endless
BABY products retailer Kiddicare has been snapped up by online retailer Worldstores, two months after it was acquired by turnaround investor Endless.
Worldstores aims to help propel Kiddicare to its next stage of growth.
Worldstores is the UK’s largest pure play online retailer in the home and garden category, having entered the market in 2008, and has turnover of more than £80m.
It has 200 staff, is headquartered in Twickenham and was founded by serial entrepreneurs Richard Tucker and Joe Murray.
Endless acquired Kiddicare from supermarket group Morrisons in July for £2m.
Morrisons, which bought the business in 2011 for £70m, took a £163m writedown on the lossmaking business as part of the sale process.
Joe Murray, joint CEO of Worldstores, said: “Kiddicare is a fantastic strategic fit for us – its customer base is very similar to our core Worldstores demographic and is at a life stage where it’s buying for the home, so there are many cross marketing opportunities. Kiddicare has built a great reputation with both its customers and suppliers and we look forward to creating an exciting long term future for the business and its employees.”
Chris Yates, CEO of Kiddicare, said: “Kiddicare has an important place in the nursery market and Worldstores is the ideal owner for the next phase of its growth. We all appreciate the hard work and diligence of the Kiddicare employees and the Endless team to help restructure the business over the past few months and this transition is exactly what Kiddicare needs. We are all excited at what we can bring to our customers now we are under the Worldstores umbrella.”
Darren Forshaw, partner at Endless, added: “It was clear to us before our investment that Kiddicare would be an attractive business once it was returned to its core operations and this has proved to be the case. The future for Kiddicare, now it is part of the Worldstores stable of brands, is exciting and I look forward to watching its growth and success.”
Endless was advised by Addleshaw Goddard and Sentio Partners. Worldstores was advised by Taylor Wessing.
