Management buyout complete at country’s leading music specialist

A management buyout deal has been completed at the UK’s leading supplier of musical instruments and sound systems.

The management team at Professional Music Technology (“PMT”) has completed a management buyout of the business backed by YFM Equity Partners and the founders of the business.

The firm, which was founded almost 30 years ago, has its warehouse, logistics, sales marketing and e-commerce teams in Speke, Liverpool.

Founded 28 years ago by Simon Gilson and Terry Hope, the business operates through 15 stores across the country.

PMT employs more than 200 staff across its business and generates revenue in excess of £40 million per year.

The buyout has been led by David Black who becomes managing director of the business.

David first joined PMT some 18 years ago and has had day-to-day leadership responsibility for the business over the last four years, having opened six new stores in that period.

David is supported in the buyout by Carly Scott (commercial director) and Andrew Ball (operations director), who joined the business in 2010 and 2012 respectively.

The board will be supplemented by Peter Moss, who joins as finance director.

David Garratt, former chief executive of Wex Photo Video, the leading multi-channel retailer of photographic and video equipment, joins the board as non-executive chairman.

Simon Gilson and Terry Hope will continue to support the management team as founder advisors and retain a significant investment in the business.

Over the coming years, the management team plan to take advantage of the continued strong demand for musical instruments and pro-audio products from hobbyists and professional musicians alike.

The business will focus both on the selective opening of new destination stores and the further development of its multi-channel proposition.

Simon Gilson said: “Terry and I have spent nearly thirty years building PMT into the strongest and most successful business in the sector of which we are both extremely proud.

“Going forward we felt that some new thinking and strategies are necessary to fully exploit the many opportunities that the current market presents and that this is the ideal time to let our younger talent, led by David Black, take this amazing company into its next phase of growth.”

David Black said: “I am very pleased to complete the buyout of PMT with the rest of the team. The founders have done a fantastic job of establishing a market leading position and we look forward to building on that in the future.
“YFM have impressed us from the start and quickly understood the plan to continuing opening new stores whilst growing the online presence.

“In choosing YFM, we have an investment partner with a wealth of experience and notable success investing in the hobbyist retail sector.”

Jamie Roberts of YFM added: “The founders have done a great job in building a market leading business in a growing niche.

“We are bucking the wider high street trend with the plan to open new physical stores but see huge opportunity to continue the impressive growth to date by doing this alongside investing in the existing online presence.”