Daily Mail

Family in line for pots of cash from cookware firm’s £250million float

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A GLOUCESTER­SHIRE family have turned a mail order cookware firm they started in their garage into a £250m business.

Former software developer Daniel O’Neill, 56, and his mother Peggy started selling pots and pans from their cottage in Cheltenham in 1996. The pair packed and dispatched the first orders themselves, and fielded customer calls from their front room.

Now, 25 years later, ProCook has 700 staff and 50 shops in prime locations such as Tottenham Court Road, London, and Cribbs Causeway in Bristol.

And when the business lists on the London Stock Exchange next month, O’Neill, his wife Sarah, 56, and brother Mike, 55, will cash in a quarter of their stake, pocketing around £62.5m.

Pro Cook took over £53m of sales last year, generating £13m of profit, and it now plans to open another 20 stores.

O’Neill (pictured) said yesterday his mother, a former manager of children’s care homes who died in 2006, would have been ‘super proud’. He added: ‘I hope the float will lift brand awareness.

‘It gives us a sense of pride working in a business that is successful, it’s a nice feeling.’

Non-executive chairman Greg Hodder said: ‘What Daniel and the team have achieved over the last 25 years is remarkable.

‘ProCook is a brilliant business with strong entreprene­urial foundation­s and a family-run culture, designing and sourcing beautiful, quality products at great value.’

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