Boohoo acquires remaining 34 percent stake in PrettyLittleThing

Boohoo has announced the acquisition of the remaining 34 percent of shares in Prettylittlething.com Limited (PLT) from its minority shareholders Umar Kamani and Paul Papworth for an initial consideration of 269.8 million pounds, potentially rising to 323.8 million pounds. The company said in a statement that this acquisition is expected to be significantly earnings enhancing on a fully diluted basis with immediate effect.

Commenting on the development, John Lyttle, Boohoo Group CEO said: “We are delighted to be acquiring the remaining 34 percent stake in PLT. It has been a brand that has delivered strong growth as part of the Boohoo group’s platform, and has a great future ahead of it in the UK and overseas. I look forward to building on the great working relationship with Umar and the senior team at PLT.”

Boohoo expects PLT acquisition to boost profit

The company added that by acquiring the full control of PLT, the Group is taking an important further step towards achieving its vision to lead the fashion e-commerce market globally by accelerating full ownership of a brand that is in high growth with enormous growth potential ahead of it.

The company further said that since the Group acquired its initial 66 percent stake in PLT on January 3, 2017, the brand has gone from strength to strength; generating 516 million pounds of net sales in the year ending February 29, 2020 against 55 million pounds in the year ending February 28, 2017, which represents a CAGR of 111 percent in this timeframe. In the last financial year, PLT’s statutory after tax profit totalled 45.2 million pounds, and its adjusted after tax profit totalled 47.2 million pounds. The Group intends the senior management team at PLT, including Umar Kamani and Paul Papworth, to remain in their current roles and continue focusing on developing PLT into a global brand.

In the Group’s most recent financial year, it generated an adjusted after tax profit of 86 million pounds with adjusted net income to shareholders of 69.9 million pounds. Going forwards, this figure will be fully consolidated from the date of completion, and as a result, the group expects the acquisition to be significantly earnings enhancing on a fully diluted basis with immediate effect.

“This deal represents another milestone in our journey at PLT. Since being a disruptive start-up in 2012 to a global fashion brand that generates over half a billion pounds in sales today, I am incredibly proud of what my team and I have achieved in such a short period of time. The team and myself have big ambitions for the brand, and I’m incredibly excited about what the future holds for PLT as it embarks on the next stage of its global journey as a fully-owned part of the Boohoo group,” added Umar Kamani, Founder & CEO of PLT.

A team comprising Nick Cowles, Andrew Jones, Josh Bean and Benjamin Robertson from Zeus Capital acted as adviser on the said transaction.

Picture:Facebook/PrettyLittleThing