New £8m boost for company started with a £299 website
FLOORING FIRM WILL EXPAND TO 200 STAFF SOON
AN online flooring store set up with a £299 website in 2005 has just won an £8 million investment to help maintain its exponential growth.
UK Flooring Direct has picked up the investment from BGF – described as the UK’s “most active growth capital investor”.
The money will help the business, based in Hinckley Commercial Park, grow its brand, invest in a better customer experience and expand its range of products.
It will also allow it to open an office in China to support procurement and product development.
UK Flooring Direct has seen a boom in online sales during lockdown – and even before the new investment it was planning to take on 50 more staff.
The business – said to be the biggest online flooring retailer in Britain – sells everything from wooden floors to laminates, vinyl flooring and underlays to the public and trade.
It sold 19 million sq ft of flooring last year – considered to be a tough year for the rest of the retail sector even before the pandemic – enough to fit out 21,000 homes.
The business offers a virtual showroom and room visualisation, contactless deliveries and free samples for consumers purchasing online.
Sales last year were over £40 million.
BGF, meanwhile, has invested more than £2.2 billion in more than 330 companies since 2011.
It acts as a minority, non-controlling equity partner with a “patient outlook” on its investments, based on “shared long-term goals with the management teams it backs”.
UK Flooring Direct was set up by chief executive Jason Ashby in 2005, who had £299 to spend on a website that would form the original platform for the business.
It went on to generate sales of £750,000 in its first year and now, 15 years later, expects annual revenue to top £50 million, having doubled sales over the past 24 months.
On the back of the exceptional growth, UK Flooring Direct expanded into a second site in Coventry last month with a bigger warehouse and more office space and has plans to create 50 additional roles, taking its headcount to more than 200.
The backing will also help the business grow its partnerships with the trade sector, where sales are increasing 25 per cent year-on-year, with significant scope for further expansion.
The firm hopes to further exploit the sector’s increasing move towards digital supply channels.
Jason said: “We recognised the importance of digital 15 years ago and have invested in building a market-leading technology platform that customers want to interact with and that provides convenient access to the products they’re looking for.
“This has underpinned our growth to date. However, the pace of digital transformation we’ve all experienced this year has resulted in a surge in ecommerce sales that we have been perfectly positioned to address.
“BGF’s backing will allow us to unlock further growth quickly, expand our market share and move into complementary markets. We have built a strong relationship with the BGF team which understands our long-term ambitions and have a good record of successful investments in the sector.”
BGF cited recent Barclaycard figures which show retail spending on home improvement is up 26 per cent compared with September last year.
Aaron Baker and Subi Inayat, from BGF, led the deal with support from Gurinder Sunner, head of BGF’s Midlands office.
Aaron said: “With a strong, experienced and entrepreneurial management team, this is a business that deeply understands customers through its data-led approach, and the result is a truly market-leading ecommerce proposition capable of significant scale.
“Flooring represents £4.4 billion of the £20 billion UK retail home improvement market.
“With over £1 billion of flooring purchases already online, and growing, UK Flooring Direct’s market insight and ecommerce pedigree makes it well placed for further growth. We look forward to working with Jason and the team to achieve the next milestones in the company’s upward trajectory.”