Home improvements firm entu in £65m AIM float
ENTU, a Manchester-based home improvements business backed by entrepreneur Brian Kennedy, is defying tough market conditions to float on AIM with a market value of around £65.6m.
In a deal led by Manchester’s Zeus Capital, entu will raise £32.8m when shares begin trading on October 30. The business will be chaired by former Rothschild’s Yorkshire director David Forbes, who is a non-executive director of Manchester-based Boohoo.
The deal will see Cheshire-based Kennedy, owner of Sale Sharks rugby club, cut his stake in the business from 60% to 30%.
Headquartered on Tib Street in Manchester city centre, entu is a multi-product and service home improvement group providing energy efficiency products and services to homeowners in the UK.
Launched in 2008, it has grown both organically and through strategic acquisitions. It now comprises four business segments that are engaged in the sale of home improvement products, the sale of energy generation and energy saving products, the sale of insulation products, and a repairs and renewals service agreement programme. A national installation service, called A Job Worth Doing, supports all four business segments.
Products sold include energy efficient windows, doors, conservatories and external and cavity wall insulation together with solar power generation products and energy efficient boilers
All products sold by the Group are sourced from third party suppliers and manufacturers. The Group’s key brands are Zenith, Penicuik, Weatherseal, Staybrite Solar, Energy Hypermarket, Job Worth Doing and Europlas. The brands have significant presence in regional markets across the UK.
Entu operates 71 sales and marketing offices across the UK. Customer services are delivered from two service centres in Norwich and Winsford in Cheshire and there are 14 installation and service centres across England and Scotland.
As at August 31 the company had 365 full time employees and utilised 1,216 self-employed canvassers, 530 self-employed sales agents and 827 self-employed installation professionals.
Richard Hughes of Zeus said: “To get this deal away in this market is a great achievement, in fact up there with our best I think.
“It is one thing to be good in a great market but the challenge is to be great in the tough market conditions, which we are seeing now with others pulling or delaying deals. It is a testament to the strenth and depth of our team and the relationships we have.”
Grant Thornton is entu’s advisor and Zeus the broker. David Grundy, the former Manchester office head of Grant Thornton will be a non-executive director of entu after it lists.
Roger Hart, a corporate partner at law firm Addleshaw Goddard and legal director Duncan Wilson are advising Zeus in the deal.
