Carpet company makes £86m European acquisition
Carpets and floorcoverings group Victoria has agreed to acquire a European manufacturer of ceramic and porcelain tiles in an £86.2m deal.
The Kidderminster company, which has a major manufacturing site near Bradford, is to buy Cerámica Saloni (Saloni) from Obinesa Grupo Industrial S.L.
The consideration is payable in cash on completion and will be met in part through a share placing to raise around £60.5m.
Saloni is a manufacturer of mid to high-end ceramic & porcelain tiles, with its main markets in Spain and France.
The acquisition is expected to be materially accretive to earnings per share for Victoria shareholders in the first full year of ownership.
For the year ended December 2017, Saloni generated audited net revenues of £94.7m and adjusted EBITDA of £13.9m, and for the 12 months ended May 31 2018, Saloni generated unaudited adjusted EBITDA of £15.9m.
Geoff Wilding, chairman of Victoria, said: “We believe that Saloni is a high-quality addition to the group. Notwithstanding its strong organic growth prospects, there are meaningful operational synergies with our existing Spanish ceramics company, which we will move quickly to realise. Even before these synergies, the acquisition of Saloni will be materially earnings accretive in the first full year of ownership and it also continues to increase the geographic diversity of our revenues and earnings.
“Post-completion, over 65% of Victoria’s earnings will be generated from outside the UK – continuing our transformation into a genuinely international flooring business.”
Last year, Victoria invested almost £10m acquiring two companies in Holland that produce artificial grass.
Avalon and GrassInc supply artificial grass for domestic and landscaping purposes across Europe.
