News
Ted Baker announced on Monday that it has launched a formal sale process following additional interest after unsolicited bids from private equity group Sycamore Partners.
The news sent the company's shares over 14% higher on the London Stock Exchange and valued it at £271 million.
The company said it had rejected the first two offers that Sycamore made on the grounds that they undervalued the business. But it added that it has now received an “improved proposal” from the group and that since Sycamore originally emerged as being interested in buying the company, it has “also received other unsolicited third-party bid interest”.
The board stressed that it “believes the business is well positioned to create significant value for shareholders” — which could be interpreted both as applying to those shareholders who are the investors that own it as a listed company today, as well as a private equity group or other retailer that might own it in future.
And it said that it continues to make good progress with its transformation and that despite the impact of Omicron on Q4, it delivered sales growth of 35% along with a much better trading margin.
Its statement to the London Stock Exchange also explained its reasoning for the official sale process. “In view of the interest expressed by potential offerors, and having consulted its major shareholders, the board has decided to conduct an orderly process to establish whether there is a bidder prepared to offer a value that the board considers attractive relative to the standalone prospects of Ted Baker as a listed company,” it said.
It didn’t specify what that value might be and it's clear that if it doesn't achieve the right price, it's prepared to continue as an independent, listed business.
The firm has agreed various points with the UK Takeover Panel and one of them is that parties interested in making a proposal will not be required to be publicly identified.
Ted Baker added that it “intends to conduct a targeted process, focused on those parties who understand and value the full potential of this unique brand”. The first phase of the process is expected to be based on public information only and interested parties will be invited to submit non-binding indicative offers to its financial advisers, Evercore and Blackdown Partners.
The company hasn’t yet spoken to Sycamore about whether it wants to be part of this process.
Impact tech startup Again has secured £2.55m in pre-seed funding led by Eka Ventures.
London-based Again is building a decentralised network of automated, micro-cleaning facilities called CleanCell that will allow brands to reuse packaging using automation and robotics.
Again’s CleanCells gives its users data on packaging inventory and cost savings.
The pre-seed investment will be used to build Again’s CleanCell technology and launch three to five CleanCells in the UK later in the year.
Again claims its CleanCells use 76% less water, 90% less energy whilst being able to clean thousands of packaging each month. Its technology, Again says, also means that it costs the same as single-use packaging for smaller brands.
“Reusable packaging is the future but today it’s prohibitively expensive for brands. We’re in the early stages of building a circular economy and we see our role being the infrastructure that underpins the packaging aspect of this on a mass scale,” said Matt Kennedy, founder and CEO, Again.
“This can only be done with buy-in from across the value chain and we’re excited to be working in partnership with renowned brands.”
Additional investment in Again’s pre-seed round came from Maersk Growth.
The startup has partnered with Budweiser Brewing Group, Diageo (Johnnie Walker Black and Smirnoff) and Biffa to launch its pilot scheme.
Its partnership with Biffa will use an electric vehicle provided by Renault to collect waste bottles from Arsenal’s Emirates Stadium, Greene King, Clays and a group of London nightclubs.
Eka Ventures is a $95m early stage impact venture fund.
“Again’s focus on using the existing logistical infrastructure and using technology and data to make reusable packaging as simple and affordable as single-use is exactly the kind of company we look to back at Eka,” said Jon Coker, Eka Ventures.
The funding round is the latest sign of growing appetite among investors for climate tech startups.
Last week, impact venture fund Climate VC launched to invest in 120 UK-based early-stage climate startups in the next three years.
Other impact funds include Elbow Beach Capital’s £20m venture vehicle as well as SIS Venture’s Scottish Impact First fund.
The announcement of Again’s funding builds on a record year of investment for impact and climate tech startups. In 2021, UK impact tech startups raised £2bn, up from £1.7bn in 2020.
Up-for-sale UK health & beauty retail giant Boots is seeing its post-pandemic recovery taking shape, announcing sales jumped 15.2% in the quarter to 28 February, driven by a 22% lift in like-for-like sales.
It said the performance was underpinned by improving high street footfall, rocketing online sales and “particularly strong” demand in the beauty segment.
In the trading update, Boots said online sales leapt 60% ahead of pre-Covid levels in the quarter and accounted for 15% of the retailer’s sales overall. Store footfall also rose by 52% year-on-year with basket size up 15% on pre-Covid levels.
Sebastian James, managing director of Boots UK & Republic of Ireland, noted it was a “very exciting time” for the chain.
He added: “Boots continues to bounce back strongly from the pandemic and delivered another solid performance this quarter, with sustained retail and pharmacy sales growth and market share gains across all categories.
“Our strategic focus continues to be on transforming our beauty, healthcare and digital offerings and this quarter we made excellent progress – with strong take-up of our new and existing healthcare services while maintaining our leading position in the growing beauty category.”
Whether or not the positive trading performance will affect the price-tag/demand for the Walgreens Boots Alliance-owned business remains to be seen as the parent confirmed the “strategic review” of the UK health & beauty business is progressing, amid strong takeover interests in recent weeks.
It’s understood US private equity firms Apollo and Sycamore partners are among firms to have placed non-binding offers. The billionaire Asda-owning Issa brothers, who are backed by TDR Capital, are also in the running to buy Boots.
Bidders are expected to submit final offers for the business around Easter, with indicative offers so far valuing the chain above £6 billion.
London Technology Club (LTC) has launched a fund that aims to raise £30m to invest in promising fintech, AI and mobility startups.
This will be the third investment fund from the London Technology Club in the last three years and aims to inject its £30m into 20 to 25 investments over the next year.
The London-based investment company will be prioritising British, US, European and MENA-based startups.
Konstantin Sidorov, founder, chief executive and general partner at LTC, said: “The technology revolution of the 21st century has positively transformed the way we do business, shop, travel and receive healthcare, but for this rate of innovation to continue we must ensure that tech enterprises are backed with the growth capital they require.”
He added: “Our third fund will channel investment into the leading tech companies of tomorrow to enable them to reach their potential.
“The growth will generate long-term returns to investors, employment opportunities for the next generation, and the benefits of innovation to consumers, businesses and the community.”
LTC previously launched the Pledge Fund I, which ended up raising £17m and resulted in a capital return of 30% in under two years.
The investment club was founded in 2018 by Sidorov, an early investor in major tech successes like Spotify.
LTC was founded with the goal of creating an “investment community” by bringing together private investors, venture capital firms, institutional investors, and technology experts to provide both investments and education and industry networking opportunities.
Earlier this month, LTC launched an overseas investment hub in Dubai, with the aim of tapping into the growing opportunities in the Middle East and North African region.
Some of LTC’s previous partners include Barclays, IG Group and Petrolex.
The firm will be looking to capitalise on the UK’s thriving fintech sector, which raised just over £8.5bn in venture capital last year.
Apple has acquired London-based fintech Credit Kudos, according to reports.
Credit Kudos was reportedly valued at $150m (£114.3m), according to The Block, which first reported the news.
Apple is yet to publicly confirm the acquisition and did not return UKTN’s request for comment.
However, Credit Kudos updated its website Services Terms of Use on 21 March and states that “Credit Kudos is a subsidiary of Apple.” The Privacy Policy also redirects to Apple’s website.
London-based Credit Kudos is a software company that allows businesses to use open banking to improve affordability and risk assessments. The software also lets lenders streamline underwriting, improve accuracy in decision-making and customer support.
Open banking adoption is set to hit 70% among lenders by 2023.
Previously Credit Kudos raised £5m in its Series A round in April 2020, which was led by AlbionVC with total funding of £7.8m.
Credit Kudos is authorised by the Financial Conduct Authority and counts Curve, Admiral and Atom bank amongst its users.
The acquisition is thought to be part of Apple’s efforts to launch its Apple Card to the UK market after launching in August 2019. There is also speculation that the acquisition could help Apple enter the lucrative buy now, pay later market.
Apple’s previous acquisitions include Shazam and Beats Electronics.
UK retail sales were unimpressive in February with volumes down 0.3% month-on-month, although they were still 3.7% above their pre-Covid February 2020 levels.
But there was good news too as non-food store sales volumes rose by 0.6% with growth in clothing (13.2%) and department stores (1.3%). The Office for National Statistics (ONS) said wider socialising and the return to the office following the lifting of Plan B restrictions at the end of January were “potential factors”.
It added that non-store retailing — mainly online — sales volumes fell by 4.8% over the month following strong growth in December (2.7%) and January (4%). Sales volumes were 33.2% above their pre-coronavirus levels.
Now, when it comes to the year-on-year figures, the picture was quite different, but the comparisons with February 2021 aren’t as useful as they would normally be given that the UK was in full lockdown this time last year. Sales volumes rose 7% compared to a year ago and values rose 11.1% as inflation kicked in.
And inflation could also have been playing its part in the volume fall for non-store sales. The ONS said that after non-store sales volumes had risen in the previous two months, February’s month-on-month fall could have been linked to affordability concerns. But of course, the fact that consumers last month were less concerned about Covid variants in physical stores would also have played a part.
Suitors are lining up to take over UK health & beauty retail giant Boots. According to the latest report, New York-based investment giant Apollo Global Management is now in the lead position with a £6bn takeover bid.
The report from Sky News follows weekend reports of a potential £7 billion sale for the Walgreens-owned business by both Apollo and US peer Sycamore Partners. They are understood to be competing against TDR Capital and the billionaire Issa brothers, owners of the Asda UK supermarket chain.
The sale of Boots was thrown into doubt in recent weeks after a consortium of Bain Capital and CVC Capital declined to submit a first-round bid.
However, city sources told The Sunday Times they are sceptical that Sycamore, which is also circling fashion chain Ted Baker, will make a firm offer for Boots.
That leaves Apollo Global as a strong contender with the investment giant understood to be talks with banks including Bank of America and Credit Suisse to provide debt funding, Sky News reports. Apollo has so far declined to comment,
Although Apollo is likely to be able to secure the required financing for a Boots bid, debt markets have become increasingly difficult since Russia's invasion of Ukraine last month, analysts noted.
A new round of bids for Boots, which trades from more than 2,000 stores and employs over 50,000 people, is expected early next month.
Rising prices across the board sent UK inflation soaring to a new 30-year high in February as the cost-of-living crisis intensified, according to official figures.
The Office for National Statistics (ONS) said Consumer Prices Index (CPI) inflation rose to 6.2% in February, up from 5.5% in January and again reaching the highest level since March 1992, when it stood at 7.1%.
The rise was higher than expected and comes after prices rose across food, clothing and footwear and a range of products and services.
The ONS said inflation rose across 10 out of the 12 categories that feed into the index, with only communication and education not seeing increases.
Experts have warned that prices will rise further still as the Ukraine conflict pushes up already sky-high inflation, adding to painful price rises for energy, fuel, commodities and food. The energy price cap rise, the planned reversal of the hospitality VAT cut and increase in National Insurance contributions are set to deepen the crisis facing UK households.
The Bank of England last week raised interest rates for the third time since mid-December, to 0.75% from 0.5%, and warned inflation will now peak at around 8% in April – and could hit double-digits if wholesale energy prices continue to soar amid the Ukraine war.
Grant Fitzner, Chief Economist at the ONS, said: “Inflation rose steeply in February as prices increased for a wide range of goods and services, for products as diverse as food to toys and games. Clothing and footwear saw a return to traditional February price rises after last year’s falls when many shops were closed.”
February’s inflation data showed the increase in inflation was led by higher prices of food, clothing, and furniture and household equipment, with COVID lockdowns a year earlier dampening 2021 price rises.
The data also showed that the Retail Prices Index (RPI) measure of inflation remained at its highest level since March 1991 – hitting 8.2%, up from 7.8% in January.
Helen Dickinson, Chief Executive of the British Retail Consortium, commented: “Rising inflation remains a significant concern for the economy, squeezing household incomes and increasing cost pressures on retailers. For the second month in a row, Transport saw the highest rate of inflation this month, while food inflation rose slower than the headline rate.
“The BRC’s Shop Price Index, which tracks the price of basic goods, showed an even smaller price rise in food, suggesting that retailers are successfully managing to limit cost increases for many essential groceries. Many supermarkets have expanded their value ranges to support individuals and households on lower incomes. Nonetheless, with retailers struggling to absorb these higher costs, shop prices look set to rise in the coming months.
A London company which aims to help businesses build global teams has raised £90 million.
Omnipresent, which was founded two years ago, has been backed in the Series B round by lead investors Kinnevik and Tencent. Uncorrelated Ventures joined alongside existing investors Episode 1, Playfair Capital and Truesight Ventures.
It says the world of work has changed significantly due to COVID-19 amid a ‘tectonic shift’ in the way businesses work and hire.
“The trend of remote, global work has been gathering pace, and Omnipresent is a catalyst for this change,” said co-founders and co-CEOs Guenther Eisinger and Matthew Wilson.
The company’s revenue grew 25x and its team 10x in 2021, with more than 230 employees now distributed across 40+ countries worldwide.
“Omnipresent is in a stage of hyper-growth, and we’re proud to have developed a culture that can scale with us and that truly resonates with our people,” added Wilson.
“Our Series B will not only enable us to grow our team, but also invest in innovative ways to keep our people engaged, fulfilled, and motivated as they shape the future of work.”
Omnipresent’s clients are building international teams in more than 160 countries and regions worldwide. It takes care of all the administrative duties associated with global employment so they can focus on expanding their business quickly and efficiently.
It says a priority is the development of its OmniPlatform, a tech-enabled HR platform.
“The way Omnipresent onboards our new hires is really important. There’s a lot of care and a lot of contact – a real agility in providing people with support,” said Marie Favre, people operations manager at Cervest.
“All of this is really priceless … It’s a real partnership, rather than a client relationship.”
Bringing a new meaning to the fashion cycle, FatFace has unveiled a collaboration with Raleigh.
The fashion and lifestyle retailer and the bicycle producer have launched FatFace x Raleigh, a spring apparel collection for kids, men and women, also including accessories, stationery and homewares.
The line features hoodies, T-shirts, sweats, plus underwear and socks emblazoned with classic Raleigh bike prints alongside “playful slogans that capture the spirit of the cycling brand”.
Highlights include a zip-through hoodie featuring Raleigh bikes through the years, including the brand’s classic ‘Banana’ road bike and the ‘Burner’. There are also T-shirts featuring colourful graphics of other legendary bikes such as the ‘Chopper’ accompanied by slogans such as ‘Joyrider’ and ‘Grab Life by the Handlebars’.
The collection also includes a water bottle, notebook, mug and puncture repair kit housed in a metal tin adorned with some of Raleigh’s best-loved bikes.
Collaborations are key for fashion brands to engage with unrelated sectors as a way to attract an audience that might not have considered the brand before. And with the spring/summer season upon us, linking up with a brand related to the outdoors and exercise should be a positive one in this key post-pandemic/lockdown era.
Lisa Bray, Buying Manager, FatFace said: "Raleigh was such a fun and exciting range to pull together. The designs, branding and colour palette are fresh, fun and modern. Raleigh is a great brand that aligns with our values, so it feels like the perfect partnership.”
Michelle Jakeway, Head of Marketing at Raleigh UK, added: “We're all about helping to spread the joy of cycling. Creating high-quality apparel and accessories for a wide range of ages, FatFace is the perfect partner to help us achieve this. We're thrilled to share the new collection with the UK and hope it helps inspire others to embrace life on two wheels.”