Hela Clothing completes Series A funding...
Sri Lankan apparel manufacturer Hela Clothing Group announced that it has completed the balance raise of US$3.6 million from its Series A funding round bringing the total equity raised to US$10 million, following an advisory board visit in Sri Lanka by all major shareholders from Sri Lanka, UK and Australia.
This comes on the back of the group’s most successful quarterto-date having strengthened the balance sheet by over US$12 million over the past four months.
“Following our initial round of funding we were overwhelmed by the fervour investors had for our business and now with the completion of our series A round we are further validated by the shareholder sentiment,” Hela Clothing Group Chairman A.R. Rasiah said.
“This wave of enthusiasm is
in part thanks to the execution of our turnaround plan with a key focus being getting all four business units to contribute towards the bottom line in the same period, for the first time. Which we achieved in our last quarter with the contribution from Africa becoming significant,” he added.
This latest infusion will allow Hela to strengthen their working capital, to finance the forecasted growth along with partial debt settlement to reduce finance costs.
The company will also continue to pursue operational excellence, grow operations further in Africa with a special aim in becoming a global leader in circularity focused sustainable manufacturing practices.
On the utilisation of the funds, Rasiah, who has a strong finance background having held several senior positions at major local and international companies before taking the helm at Hela, said: “We will continue to focus on the fundamentals that built our business and put it on a solid footing while keeping an eye on the horizon for growth opportunities.”
“Our Africa operations are continuing at a phenomenal pace and we expect continued investment in that region to reap greater rewards in the short to medium term. Further, we expect our investments in IT to streamline processes, create greater efficiencies, improve productivity and reduce costs thereby improving our ability to compete on a global scale,” he added.
Hela Clothing is a US$ 200 million company that provides sustainability focused apparel supply chain solutions. With 10 factories across three countries and a workforce of 14,000 across the globe, Hela leads the industry in ethical and sustainable working environments.
Hela works closely with leading global brands to provide design to deliver solutions in the intimate, sleepwear and kids product ranges.