Ultimate Products profits increase 50% as it preps for IPO
ULTIMATE Products has enjoyed a record year of turnover and profits, as its Beldray, Salter and intempo brands performed well, and it is again turning its attentions to a possible stock market listing.
The company, headquartered in a former textile mill in Chadderton near Oldham, saw turnover increase 23% to £79m for the year to the end of July (2015: £64.1m).
Continuing pre-tax profits were up by an impressive 50% to £7.5m (2015: £5.0m), while the company’s order book for 2017 is already up by 60% on last year.
In March, Ultimate Products appointed City advisers Shore Capital to look into selling the business or listing it on the stock market but said at the time that a decision would not be made until the autumn.
Then, plans were stalled ahead of the EU referendum but a storming financial year has seen the company’s value rocket from the £60m quoted in the first quarter to around £100m.
Managing director Andy Gossage told the Press Association: “We could push the button in the first half of next year; I think the public markets could be a good place for us.
“The current IPO market conditions don’t put us off. There’s still a lot of money out there looking for growing companies to invest in.”
During the year, the company launched more than 1,000 new products, including the successful re-launched of its British heritage kitchen products brand Progress, which was acquired from the administrators of PCS Brands in 2015, and has since had £300,000 of initial orders from retailers such as Robert Dyas, TK Maxx and The Range.
The group also secured new four-year bank facilities with HSBC, which it said will provide greater flexibility and increased credit limit giving plenty of headroom to support management’s plans for further expansion.
It has also signed a new seven-year lease on a 240,000 sq ft warehouse facility in Oldham, giving it capacity for up to £150m turnover.
Simon Showman, Ultimate Products’ founder and chief executive, said: “Against a backdrop of political and economic uncertainty we have achieved record profits, negotiated favourable financing facilities and successfully re-launched a British heritage brand.
“Our new brand, Progress, focuses on stylish and distinctive kitchen products and it is pleasing to see how well they’ve gone down with key customers. Product innovation is at the heart of our strategy as we focus on increasing our reach through new customers and repeat orders from our existing relationships with major retailers.
“Despite the outcome of the referendum in June, our 2017 order book is already up over 60% as the company benefits from the expansion plans of the discounters, our deepening relationships with major supermarkets and the growing popularity of online shopping.“
Ultimate Products is owed by its management team after they bought out private equity backer LDC in 2014.
That’s when management changed the business model from a sourcing company working with retail clients to source mostly own-label and promotional products, to the current mass market branded model.
It is now focused on developing, sourcing, designing and packaging consumer goods under a range of brands, most of which it owns.
It supplies a wide range of homewares, from cups and saucers to blenders and vacuum cleaners, electrical goods such as mobile phone chargers and speakers as well as luggage. Its core brands include Beldray, Intempo, Russell Hobbs and Salter, while there are a further 30 or so other brands and licenses.
Customers include B&M, Sainsbury, Argos, The Range, Robert Dyas, Matalan and Aldi in the UK, Action in the Netherlands and Gifi in France plus TJ Maxx in the US.
It was founded by Showman and Barry Franks in 1997. Franks remains a shareholder and also owns Manor Mill, where the business is based.
The business employs around 185 people at Manor Mill and at its base in the Chinese city of Guangzhou.
